A NEW mental health hospital is to be built in East Lancashire using more than £100 million of NHS cash.
A single hospital will replace all units for overnight patients in the area by 2011, health chiefs have said.
And £9.5 million has been promised for community-based services in East Lancashire so some patients can live at home.
A consultation has been launched on the plans, which will cut the area's estimated 250 overnight beds for adults by between 30 and 50 per cent.
Units facing closure are Pendle View and Hillview at Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn, wards at Burnley General and Rossendale hospitals, and beds at The Mount in Accrington and Wood Lea in Blackburn.
These are all of "poor standard", the consultation document states.
Overall, 15 units will go in Lancashire, to be replaced by three in East Lancashire, Central and West Lancashire and the Fylde Coast. The three new hospitals are expected to cost in excess of £100 million.
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