A £2 MILLION plan to help East Lancashire's hospitals cope with reductions in junior doctors' hours brought about by EU rules has been revealed.

Around 35 extra junior doctors are being taken on over the next year to cover the workload at hospitals in Blackburn and Burnley.

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust has identified that an extra 21 junior doctors are needed to meet the New Deal regulations which say they are only allowed to work 58 hours a week.

And the Working Time Regulations (WTR) directive comes into effect on August 2004 and hospitals must be compliant by then. Junior doctors will only be able to work a maximum of 48 hours a week by 2009.

Elaine Baker, director of personnel and development, said the WTR also changed the rules on when a doctor is on call.

She said: "The new rules say even if a doctor is on call and in bed and sleeping, if they are on hospital premises they are deemed to be working. The action plan we have drawn up will help us to comply with these new requirements."

Changes have also been made to the roles of other staff so they can take over some doctor duties. For example, emergency nurse practitioners in the accident and emergency department can now carry out some minor procedures without a doctor having to be present.

As well as the influx of junior doctors, the trust is in the process of appointing around 30 new specialist registrars - the post seen as a stepping stone to becoming a consultant. The Government made funding available for 140 SRs across Cumbria and Lancashire and general hospitals have been bidding for the posts.

Already, 21 have been approved for East Lancashire and the trust is bidding for around ten more.

Chief executive John Thomas said: "The specialist registrars will have a big impact in helping us meet the challenges of the new working time regulations."