THE "writing is on the wall" for Burnley General Hospital after health chiefs announced plans to change the set-up of services in East Lancashire, a union leader has said.

Lee Bunting, secretary of the NHS Burnley branch of Unison, today claimed plans to remove critical beds were likely to be targeted at Burnley General instead of Blackburn's Queens Park Hospital, because a massive £113million extension is being developed there.

Mr Bunting said today: "I think the writing is on the wall for Burnley. You don't build a new hospital for nothing."

Health chiefs have put forward four options as part of a review of all hospital services in East Lancashire.

These are: Do nothing, build a new general hospital to serve the region, take intensive care beds from one site, or take intensive care and high dependency from one site.

Mr Bunting said: "I am sure there will be a knock- on safety effect. If you are taking patients 16 miles down the motorway there is going to be a time issue. And that is from Burnley General, if you leave from Barnoldswick it is probably an extra 10 miles.

"It is not just the patients who are going to be affected, it is the relatives as well. Everybody has to use the hospital, whether it is the birth of your child or visiting your elderly parents."

And he warned: "Once you start losing your major services you can lose anything and there is a worry that this is just the beginning. That is a genuine fear among staff."

The review is being carried out by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which was created after Burnley Health Care NHS Trust and Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust merged in April 2003.

John Amos, who was on the former patient watchdog for the Burnley Trust, the Community Health Council for 20 years and now sits on its replacement, the Patient and Public Involvement Forum, also raised concerns.

He said: "The concentration of particular services onto just one site is the very reason for my opposition to the merger of the two trusts. At the time public assurances were given by those proposing the merger that we would continue to have two general hospitals."

Val Bertenshaw, who is leading the project for the Trust, said health professionals who are considering the options had not decided which site would lose the beds.

The chosen site will be part of a 12-week public consultation to begin in January, the Trust has said. Views can still be put forward, before December 2, to: Chief Executive, East Lancashire NHS Hospitals Trust, Queens Park Hospital, Haslingden Road, Blackburn, BB2 3HH. Views can also be e-mail to chief.executive@elht.nhs.uk or call 01254 293855.