THE ‘heart-warming’ story of an East Lancashire patient who was treated in Liverpool has highlighted the need for specialist hospital care, according to a senior church official.

On Tuesday, the Lancashire Telegraph featured the case of Hamza Rawat, 22, who defied a rare blood condition which carried a one in 10 survival chance.

He was treated at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, which is a specialist centre for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, which causes clots in the blood vessels.

Canon Michael Wedgeworth, chairman of Third Sector Lancashire and assistant priest at Blackburn Cathedral, said: “There was uproar recently when it was suggested that there should be more specialist regional units, for example for stroke victims, which would mean that patients could be sent some distance rather than being treated at Burnley or Blackburn hospitals.

“But I think most would agree that during the vital first few critical hours of a serious stroke, the very best care and the greatest expertise is much more important than that.

“There is no doubt that it is impossible for every district hospital of provide the full range of expert treatment for especially serious conditions.

“Those who want everything to be local need to ask whether the experience of Hamza and his family might point in a different direction.”