A WATCHDOG today warned that more tragedies like the death of baby Emma Dyson are waiting to happen because of a lack of funding for mental health services in the Burnley area.

The claim was made as Burnley MP Peter Pike revealed that he is to quiz social services over the case of Rabina Hashim, who killed her four-month-old daughter by throwing her into the Leeds and Liverpool canal after hearing voices in her head.

The warning was given by Community Health Council chairman Frank Clifford after it was revealed that the mother, who also had a previous conviction for attacking a two month old boy and had a long history of mental problems, was released from a psychiatric ward at Rossendale General Hospital only weeks before the tragedy happened in March.

And it comes a week after the clinical director of mental services for Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale warned that his department "just couldn't cope anymore" because of a lack of resources.

Health bosses and social services have refused to reveal why Emma was not on a an risk register and how and why her mother was released from hospital just weeks before her daughter's death.

A review of the case is being carried out by the Lancashire Area Child Protection Committee and the results are to be made public.

Hashim was remanded to a secure hospital mental unit for an indefinite period and Coun Clifford said: "I am very well aware of this case and happened to be driving past the scene when the unfortunate little girl was recovered from the canal.

"Unfortunately things like this are constantly waiting to happen. I invited Dr Mike Launer, the clinical director of mental services, to give a keynote speech at our last meeting because I was mindful that moral in the department is horrendously low."

Coun Clifford said: "I wanted him to explain why on earth people with mental health problems have to depend on their postcode and locality for the quality of of the care they get.

"In Blackburn there has been a significant increase in the number of psychiatrists while things are still at such a dangerous level in Burnley. People are just not getting treated."

Coun Clifford added: "I cannot remember a time when the service was properly resourced. We have banged the table and beaten the drum but no-one seems to listen. If they are listening they are doing nothing about it."

He warned: "Without more resources in the service another tragedy will happened, another critical incident will occur."

Mr Pike, who has previously promised to ask "serious questions" about the case, spoke to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph from South Africa where he is on a parliamentary delegation.

He said: "I need to examine the court judgement and the papers about the case. When I have done so I will be asking serious questions of social services about how this was allowed to happen." Dr Launer was unavailable for comment but in last week's speech he warned that the department: "just can't cope any more".

He told the CHC that the problem was caused by a lack of staff and greater demand for mental health services.

He warned that doctors were 'stressed out' and that if the situation continued the unit could be forced to shut down.

He said: "No-one is going to come to a place where there is a 60,000 catchment area for each adult consultant. I know people that would come here tomorrow if we had a proper catchment area.

"We will never get accreditation with numbers like this. No-one is going to be able to be taught here because we haven't got the people to teach them and until someone invests the situation is going to get worse."

Doctors were stressed out. Both junior and senior doctors had told him they couldn't cope anymore, he said.

Dr Launer added: "We've got 30 in-patients each on the wards where most doctors have nine or less. If I had only nine patients I could do a good job on that nine and get them out faster.

"In the last three weeks, during the day, 56 patients were sent up to the hospital by their GPs -- that's a lot of patients.

"The demand is so great these days we can't cope anymore with it and it's got to be taken seriously. We want parity with Blackburn, which has doubled its number of medical staff in the past 12 months, and we don't see why we shouldn't have it.

"I want an answer as to why we have half the number of doctors that are in Blackburn and why they have been given extra money and we haven't.

"How can anyone justify that? It this continues this service will shut down."

Dr Launer said the mental health unit needed three extra psychiatrists to deal with adults, and one psychiatrist for the elderly mentally ill as well as junior doctors to work alongside them.

He added: "Until this happens it is completely lopsided and not fair for the people of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale who just because they have a different postcode get a different service."