THE Government's health minister has advised Lancashire County Council to get outside help from other authorities and government officers to sort out its controversial plans to close three quarters of the county's care homes.

The leader of the county council, Councillor Hazel Harding, joined social services boss Coun Chris Cheetham and finance chief Coun Tony Martin for a meeting with health minister Jacqui Smith.

The group met for around an hour in London, on Monday, April 29, in a discussion organised by Lancashire MPs Gordon Prentice, who represents Pendle, and Joan Humble, who represents Blackpool North.

Coun Harding and Coun Cheetham were both positive about the outcome of the meeting, although the minister suggested some ways to help the county council.

Coun Cheetham said: "We agreed on what was necessary to transform services for old people in terms of more support for people to be independent.

"The minister suggested that her officers could work with us to see what we could take from other authorities' decisions and the things they have gone through.

"That should start happening fairly soon. There is no point re-inventing the wheel if other authorities have found solutions to the problem.

"In one sense it was a discussion as much as anything else. She hadn't had the opportunity to hear directly from us what we were doing before now."

After the meeting Coun Hazel Harding suggested that changes would have to be made to the care system. She said: "The meeting was very positive and was our first opportunity to speak with the minister. We were all agreed there is a need to transform services for older people. The minister is concerned, as are we, about how the necessary changes are achieved. The minister suggested we work with her officers to see if there are any lessons to be learned from what has happened in other areas of the country."