A CANTEEN is to be closed overnight and nine waitresses are to be axed as part of the latest round of cost-cutting by hospital bosses.

Hospital chiefs are to make the cuts at the new Royal Blackburn Hospital from September 1 to save £233,000 a year in salaries, with patients and visitors forced to rely on vending machines between 9pm and 11am.

The work of the nine-strong team of waitresses, who deliver meals to patients, will be taken over by nurses.

The move was today condemned as "penny pinching" and comes after bosses in East Lancashire axed hot lunches for patients to save cash. East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust's chief operating officer, Dena Marshall, said: "The intention is to make sure that the night catering service across the patch is provided through vending machines and alternate means."

Burnley General Hospital is already served by vending machines.

But at the Royal Blackburn, the canteen in the old Queen's Park Hospital part of the complex is currently open from 9pm to 1am.

Miss Marshall said patients would not need to be signed out to visit vending machines, which is the case for the canteen during the evenings.

The cuts have been prompted by the biggest ever savings drive at the trust.

The authority has to save £14 million by April, of which £2.5million will be reached by slashing more than 20 per cent of overnight beds.

Bosses today said the 13 staff affected by the latest cuts - which will save £117,000 by April - will be moved into empty posts elsewhere in the trust.

But Mollie Manthorpe, chairman of the patient and public involvement forum watchdog, which oversees the trust, said: "There is too much focus on cutting down on costs and not enough on services to the patient. We thought the waitress service in particular was a very good service."

Tony Humphrys, chairman of Blackburn with Darwen Council's health scrutiny committee, said: "This is penny pinching. The waitress service is there to help so the nurses can get on and do the job they love doing which is looking after people.

"Staff in particular need to have a canteen facility. If you are working a 12 hour shift you need a hot meal inside you.

"The last few savings have been against hospital food. To me that is wrong."