A 'DAGGERS drawn' relationship between a council and health chiefs was laid to rest as councillors voted against plans to change the way patient care is run.

Burnley Council finance chairman Coun Peter Kenyon said in the past the council was daggers drawn with East Lancashire Health Authority chiefs, often over service cuts, but now there was a much more constructive relationship and he believed the authority had come of age.

"We probably have a structure now that makes sense and reflects the needs of the area," he told the general purposes committee.

But councillors agreed with him that an extension of new primary care groups taking over areas of responsibility now administered by existing trusts, could upset the balance of services.

Councillors, studying NHS discussion papers on the future shape of health services in the North West voted to reject any enlargement of the health authority.

They agreed with a council officer's report that no satisfactory arguments had been put forward for merging the authority in any other arrangement and that there were, in fact, substantial disadvantages from any such change.

And they decided to express very strongly the view that East Lancashire Health Authority should be retained in order to tackle effectively the specific health needs of the area.

Councillors also called for no change to Lancashire Ambulance Service, which, they said, provided an efficient and effective service.

Health authority chief executive David Peat addressed the meeting, outlining the role of health commissioners and providers and outlining some of the options for change.

He said East Lancashire had a 500,000 population, which was seen as the optimum size for the delivery of hospital care.

He said it would be a criminal waste of money to build a new hospital to serve the whole of East Lancashire after £100,000 of investment had already been poured into Burnley and Blackburn hospitals and with urther massive spending on improvements in the pipeline.

But he foresaw further integration of acute services across the Burnley and Blackburn areas.

"If we have an acute trust serving 500,000, it would be big enough to provide excellent service and also to attract top flight clinicians," he added.

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