A CRIPPLING increase in workload could make a new East Lancashire drug abuse service ineffective, a councillor has warned.

Burnley's Peter Kenyon said the take-over of a community drug treatment scheme by Accrington-based Communicare meant caseloads would rise from 60 to 130 per staff member.

He told Burnley's policy committee: "I fear this model of provision is more to do with government fundholding policies than tackling the problem."

He said not all GPs who would help operate the shared care scheme were interested in taking part. "I am concerned the scheme as proposed will not be effective," he added.

His claims came after similar warnings from drug treatment consultants, unhappy with the merged scheme which took over from services run separately by Trusts in the Burnley and Blackburn areas until April 1. Burnley's Community Health Council challenged the validity of the new £880,000-a-year contract on the grounds that the Health Authority awarded the work to Communicare without proper public consultation.

Butit has accepted that the battle has been lost battle.

Health Secretary John Horam ruled the authority did, in fact, made adequate consultation and the contract should stand.

CHC chief officer Helen Gee said: "They have won this battle but not the war.

"We haven't the funds to pay massive legal bills by taking the health authority to court.

"But they must realise they have a duty to listen to the public when considering major changes in the way NHS services are provided."

She added: "Let's hope this experience has taught them that lesson."

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