HOSPITAL boss Jo Cubbon has promised that staff are fully prepared for tomorrow's shake-up of accident and emergency services.

Thursday is the first day of the new system under the Meeting Patients' Needs clinical services review, aimed at making the best use of medical staff and finances.

All emergency ambulances will now go to the Royal Blackburn Hospital's A and E department, with all other accident cases going to new urgent care centres at Blackburn and Burnley General, which is losing its A and E department.

Staff have been redirected to the new units, including the temporary urgent care centre in Blackburn, where the finishing touches were put to the building this week.

The changes have been made despite massive protests, particularly from Burnley residents, about the change, and fears that the vital minutes lost in the longer ambulance journeys will put lives at risk.

But Ms Cubbon, chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said patients would soon get used to the change, and would continue to receive the best possible care.

She said: "It's not just about the first day - it's about the first day and afterwards.

"What's important is that the changes are all managed into the future.

"There has been a huge amount of planning and everybody here is working very hard.

"We have got all sorts of staff working together to make sure it all runs smoothly.

"Change is always difficult for us all - it doesn't matter what part of our lives it is but it is always difficult for individuals to handle.

"It is important that we continue to work with the public to demonstrate that we can improve the services on offer and in turn improve personal health, families' health and, in some cases, increase life expectancy.

"The NHS is constantly changing. The media and the public rightly point out that we don't always get it right and there are always things in the service that we want to change."

Ms Cubbon is leaving the Trust in Aptil after three years to be nearer her parents in Devon, and will begin a job as chief executive of Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust.

She said: "I'm confident that by the time I leave in April, the changes we are putting in place will be embedded and patients will be seeing the benefits.

"All credit - and it's a huge credit - goes to both the public and the staff.

"We are demonstrating that we can rise to that challenge to change services so that we can provide better and better care."

  • The Lancashire Telegraph would like to hear about your experiences as the controversial hospital shake-up takes effect.

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