THE man who spearheads the NHS in East Lancashire today revealed that the area was in danger of losing its own health authority.

David Peat spoke of his concern that East Lancashire Health Authority could be forced to merge with a neighbouring organisation, or be swallowed up by a single county or North West body. The radical proposals are outlined in a new NHS discussion paper 'Fit for the Purpose.'

The document has already suggested that Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale NHS Trust could merge with Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley to create a single hospital trust in East Lancashire from the year 2003.

But now it has been revealed that East Lancashire Health Authority, which purchases healthcare for the district's 500,000 people, could be scrapped and forced to merge into a bigger organisation. The options include:

Merge East Lancs with South Lancs Health Authority

Leave East Lancs alone

A single North West health authority

A single Lancashire health authority

Mr Peat, health authority chief executive, said the improvement in the health of the East Lancashire population was 'beyond the scope' of a separate organisation. He said: "We are trying to build a very strong NHS in East Lancashire in terms of hospital services.

"To put it bluntly, we want to provide more services, here, in East Lancashire. We want to bring together the two NHS trusts (Blackburn and Burnley) not physically, but as a virtual NHS trust offering complimentary services on both sites. We want to offer more specialist services in East Lancashire without people having to travel outside the area."

East Lancashire Health Authority has formally responded to the Fit for the Purpose proposals and will discuss the issue at its next meeting on Wednesday.

The response says: "The improvement of health status in this context is beyond the scope of any separate organisation and so the health service within East Lancashire has wholeheartedly endorsed and supported the concepts and ideals of health improvement through co-operation and partnership."

It says more services are being integrated between the two hospital trusts in Blackburn and Burnley. including Ear, Nose and Throat, ophthalmology, and general surgery and urology.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.