WORK on the £15 million phase four development taking Burnley General Hospital into the next millennium could start in October and already Health Trust bosses are making plans for phase five.

Details of the long-awaited phase four scheme were unveiled at last night's annual meeting of Burnley Health Care NHS Trust at the Comfort Friendly Inn.

Tenders have already gone out and subject to planning and other conditions work is hoped to start in October on the demolition of the existing ante natal clinic and creation of a modern, state of the art family health unit with integrated day care facilities.

It is hoped the new until will be completed by May 1998. Work on a new orthopaedic unit will start in December with completion by July 1998, a day care unit and new operating theatres will be ready by February, 1999, with work starting next September and an integrated medical unit will start to come into shape in April, 1999, with the whole scheme being completed by July 2000.

Geoffrey Summers, facilities director, said the largest single investment ever on the site would take Burnley General Hospital into the 21st century and that the scheme was a cost effective solution being a lot cheaper than going for a new hospital.

Trust chiefs have already begun work on planning a phase five scheme and hope to bring plans forward by the end of the year.

They will include better facilities for the care of the elderly, new dermatology facilities and redevelopment of the Briercliffe Road end of the site now occupied by medical staff accommodation, office space and what were described as semi-redundant buildings.

Mr Summers said when everything was up and running Burnley would have services which were the state of the art in treatment and quality of care in a modern environment.

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