THE future organisation and efficiency of health services across East Lancashire is vital to all of us.

We need high quality care that can be accessed rapidly, especially in the case of emergencies when it is vital that critically ill patients get to hospital in the shortest possible time.

And that's why plans to reorganise East Lancashire's hospital services matter to every person in the region.

We are told that there are four options and that a consultation document will be published on March 6 outlining the preferred choice of doctors.

One of the options involves having all East Lancashire's intensive care beds in one hospital - a prospect which has caused widespread alarm.

Today we hear Ian Woolley, a respected figure with 20 years experience running our local health services, describe the plans as "a complete waste of time" and warn that the need for local services is "in grave danger of being overlooked."

Health chiefs have promised to "listen" to local people but at the same time talk of services being "spread too thinly."

Following so much other criticism, Ian Woolley's comments will fuel fears that this quest for reorganisation is more a money-saving move than an attempt to radically improve our health care.