HEALTH chiefs have defended a decision to invest £800,000 to help people with learning disabilities live in their communities.

NHS England said children, young people and adults who have a learning disability or autism spectrum disorder in Lancashire and South Cumbria, have the right to a home within their community.

Health bosses said this is so they can "develop and maintain relationships, and get the support they need to live healthy, safe and rewarding lives."

The funding will be used to develop new, high-quality, community services for people in their area, with the aim to reduce reliance on inpatient services for people who have learning disabilities.

It comes after East Lancashire's patients' champion Russ McLean has dismissed health bosses announcement of the funding to help people with learning disabilities as a "drop in the ocean".

Mr McLean, of the Pennine Lancashire Patient Voices Group, also said it was an "absolute travesty" that Calderstones Hospital (now Mersey Care Whalley) in Whalley, is set to close by 2019. It is the only NHS hospital in Britain that specialises in learning disabilities, by 2019.

But an NHS England spokesperson defended the decision to close the facility.

The spokesperson said: "NHS England made a positive commitment to review inappropriate and outdated in-patient facilities.

"The decision to close in-patient beds on the Whalley site is a real step forward in terms of how we support people in the North West who have a learning disability, autism or both, and their families, in the future."