PATIENTS were evacuated to other wards when a man smashed a window and barricaded himself into a room at Burnley General Hospital.

Police negotiators spent more than three hours talking to the patient before he agreed to come out quietly.

The 25-year-old patient on ward 21, a psychiatric ward, received treatment for self-inflicted injuries before being taken to Burnley police station.

Police received a call at about 12.30pm yesterday telling them that staff on ward 21 were having problems with a violent patient.

The man threw items of furniture through a window and then barricaded himself into a room on the ward.

Police and hospital staff began a conversation with the patient through a broken window. Inspector Phil Cottam said negotiations continued until just before 4pm, during which time the man's mood swung from irate to calm and back again.

He added: "Just before 4pm he was removed from the ward without further violence.''

He said said the incident was resolved without injury to anyone else.

Patients were moved to other wards and the area was cordoned off by the emergency services while the talks with the patient were going on.

A hospital spokesman said the incident had been efficiently dealt with by the emergency services.

The man was kept at Burnley police station overnight.

He received medical attention and police hoped to interview him today.

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