PATIENT watchdogs have renewed their demand for health authority bosses to name the food outlet at the centre of the latest E.coli outbreak, after taking legal advice on the issue.

Burnley Community Health Council (CHC) chiefs said a local newspaper report identifying the outbreak at an un-named Ribble Valley premises underlined the injustice of not telling the public the truth - because it casted doubt and concern on all other food outlets in the area.

Now CHC chairman Coun Frank Clifford, has written to East Lancashire Health Authority consultant in communicable disease control Dr Roberta Marshall, asking her to re-think the 'steadfast refusal' to identify the premises health chiefs believe could be the source of three of the six E.coli 0157 cases in the district.

In the hand-delivered letter, he says Dr Marshall has an overriding duty to provide full information regarding the progress of investigations and identify sources, so long as the information is accurate and cannot be challenged in law. He adds: "I have taken legal advice and I am satisfied there is no statutory or legal reason for withholding information which will assist the public to make informed choices and satisfy their concerns.

"I would, therefore, respectfully ask you to reconsider your position and inform the public without any further delay," he adds.

The health authority says it is not appropriate to name the food outlet because its investigation is not yet finished.

Stephanie Hawke, 21, of Masefield Avenue, Padiham, was a victim of the outbreak and spent a week in intensive care at Burnley General Hospital.

Her mother, Mrs Louise Hawke, has also called for the food outlet to be named.

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