SPECIALIST cancer clinics will be held at East Lancashire hospitals from April in a major shake-up aimed at improving services, it was revealed today.

Patients will have access to experts from Royal Preston Hospital who will hold weekly clinics at Blackburn Infirmary and Burnley General.

Cancer patients in need of further treatment will be referred to Royal Preston rather than the world famous Christie Hospital in Manchester, but chemotherapy and treatment for common cancers such as lung and breast will be carried out locally if possible.

The changes to the outpatient services are part of an overall plan to improve cancer services for East Lancashire patients.

Geoffrey Summers, director of facilities at Burnley NHS Trust, said: "We have been looking at individual cancers and worked with Blackburn and East Lancashire Health Authority in creating an East Lancashire cancer unit to deal with the more common cancers. Over time we will develop units to cover other types. These will work in tandem with the changes to the service."

General specialists from the Christie and Preston currently visit Burnley and Blackburn. From April 1 extra support from specialists in certain cancers will come to East Lancashire solely from Preston to provide clinics each Tuesday and Thursday at Burnley and Tuesday and Friday at Blackburn. The Christie will continue to take cases involving unusual and rare cancers. Neil Matthewman, the trust's service manager dealing with medical specialities, added: "Preston has been developing staffing and expertise and undertaken a major investment in buildings and equipment.

"Specialists from there will come to Burnley and provide a first point of contact for patients who have been identified by consultants as having cancer. It will depend on what treatment is necessary as to where it is carried out. In many cases it will be at Burnley where we have made advances in cancer treatment."

Patients currently receiving radiotherapy treatment have already been notified about the chances and some have told health chiefs they want to continue treatment at the Christie.

The cancer service at Burnley deals with between 500 and 1,000 patients a year.

Radiotherapy services for patients with skin problems will be switched from Burnley to Preston.

Mr Matthewman said: "We have not got the specialist equipment to deal with those.

"It is a very limited service. From April patients will be referred to the specialist service at Preston."

The change will ease the burden on the Christie and allow it to cater for patients in Greater Manchester and concentrate on more specialist cancer work.

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