THE heartbroken godmother of tragic tot Kourtney Burns has been told by health bosses their are no plans to install life-saving equipment at hospitals in East Lancashire.

Mandy Eccles, who runs the Cabin End pub in Knuzden, launched a fund-raising drive to collect money for new equipment at hospital in East Lancashire after her two-year-old god-daughter died in June after contracting meningitis C.

Blackburn youngster Kourtney was originally taken to the Blackburn Royal Infirmary by her mum Sharron, before she was transferred to Booth Hall Children's Hospital, which has specialist equipment to deal with meningitis.

Kourtney later died at the Manchester hospital. Mandy had hoped to put enough pressure on health chiefs in government to persuade them to install the same life-saving equipment Manchester has, in East Lancashire. She believes that, by cutting out the travelling time from East Lancashire to Manchester, lives could be saved.

Today she received a reply from the NHS Executive in the North West after she wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In the letter Tom McHugh, from the parliamentary liaison unit, said: "It is considered inappropriate to provide a paediatric intensive care unit in a district general hospital such as the one in Blackburn where the required skill base and supporting hospital beds would be unlikely to be present.

"In the North West, there are two lead centres, one in Liverpool and one in Manchester."

Mandy said: "We are disappointed because I believe that by cutting out the journey time, lives could be saved.

"We were fighting to save the lives of youngsters. When a child gets meningitis, it is a race against time.

"My advice is that people take their children straight to Manchester instead of Blackburn. Every second counts."

A spokesman of the Executive said the local hospital should always be a parent's first stop if they were worried about their child's health.

Money raised for the equipment has now been passed on to Kourtney's family.

Mandy added: "It may not mean a lot, but it shows we care."