ANXIOUS relatives are fearing for the future after being told that respite care for the sick is being axed at Burnley General.

Hospital staff say the move is necessary because a ward in the Elderly, Senile and Mentally Infirm unit will be out of action for around three or four months while builders are at work on the first part of the £15 million revamp.

However, they do admit they intend to take a close look at care for the elderly while patients currently in Ward 19 are accommodated at Rossendale General Hospital.

Consultants at the ESMI unit have also been reviewing the needs of patients who have day care at the hospital. People who they consider will not benefit from further clinical care are transferred to the books of social services

The changes came as a bombshell to carer Bernard Welsh, of Barkerhouse Road, Nelson. He worries current events are the thin edge of a cost-cutting wedge.

Mr Welsh looks after his wife Eileen, who suffers from Alzheimer's. She was admitted for respite care when Mr Welsh needed an operation.

Said Mr Welsh: "It seems as though they are kicking carers into touch, yet it is the carers who look after people who otherwise might be in hospital.

"They are looking after their budgets, not after people."

Hospital mental health manager Brian Wolstenholme said moving Ward 19 to Rossendale would interrupt respite care, but that he expected patients to be able to return to Burnley.

The move does mean there is little chance of providing planned respite care, such as providing cover while a carer had a week's holiday.

Mr Wolstenholme added that if relatives experienced difficulties in travelling to the hospital for visits he would try to arrange transport.

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