HEALTH bosses are being urged to pump nearly £600,000 into providing a facelift at Burnley hospitals -- to make them brighter, cleaner and more welcoming.

Burnley General and Rossendale hospitals received high marks after inspectors called following Government demands that all hospitals should improve their image to make them more user friendly.

Patient Environment Action Teams twice swooped on both hospitals, welcomed improvements brought via a Trust action plan and concluded that standards, ranging from furniture to smells, ground maintenance to food standards overall were very good.

The only area where either received a poor rating was car parking at Burnley General.

The standard of food at both centres was judged excellent as were visitor toilets, internal cleanliness, smells, furniture in common areas and linen, support services, grounds an gardens and external tidiness at Rossendale.

Burnley scored top marks on internal cleanliness, smells linen, support services staff grounds and external tidiness.

A report to Wednesday's meeting of the trust board says that had there been time to decorate a ward at Rossendale, an overall excellent rating would have gone to Rossendale.

Trust facilities director Geoff Summers says cash should continue to go into the hospitals' environment.

He said it would be disappointing and a blow to the enthusiasm of facilities staff if resources were not available.

"They have relished the opportunity, through this initiative, to raise standards and meet growing expectations from within and outside the trust."

He adds: "Despite improvements, current standards will only be enhanced if the importance of patient environment continues to be fully appreciated and a commitment is made to the additional resources that are essential to achieve the objective in a sustainable way over the long term."