A NURSERY for children of hospital staff has been closed by cash-strapped health bosses.

The facility at Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn, shut almost a fortnight earlier than planned, on December 20, after places were found for all children, an NHS chief said today.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust announced in March it was looking at closing the facility, which cared for 32 children, blaming high running costs and a need to improve the condition of the building.

New parents would be able to find a place for their child, pledged the trust's chief operating officer, Dena Marshall.

She said: "There is excellent child care provision for pre-school children in the Blackburn with Darwen area and I am confident our employees with children will be able to find high quality child care locally.

"A number of the children who were at the nursery started school in September and parents of the remaining eight have found alternative provision. This was not an easy decision and was taken only after all possible options had been thoroughly explored."

But paediatric nurse Mandy Kennedy said although places were available, parents were suffering the inconvenience of having to take children to another nursery.

She said: "I now have to travel to Darwen, it is a problem when you are so used to dropping your child off where you work. My son was upset with upheaval of having to move to a new nursery but he is all right now. I know other parents have had worse problems than I have with their children settling in to a new nursery.

Former radiographer Jon Hart told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph in March that he would leave the trust if the closure, originally planned for December 31, went ahead. He made good on his promise and left to work for a private healthcare firm in May.

The Lower Darwen resident said: "That was the final straw, I said 'Forget it. If the NHS can't support working parents I will work somewhere else'. They have lost a skilled individual because they can't support their staff."

Staff paid for the nursery's services but the Trust said it was putting in an extra £86,000 a year and would need to invest an extra £110,000.

The authority was formed in 2003 and has overspent every year since to more than £10 million despite attempts to cut costs.