TINY tot Tom Whipp lent his dad a helping hand to lead a campaign to save a Pendle baby clinic.

Ten-month-old Tom and other babies whose parents use the facilities at Butts Clinic, Barnoldswick, helped launch a petition to persuade health bosses not to transfer services to a health centre on the other side of the town.

Tom and his dad, Pendle and county councillor David Whipp, were at Butts Clinic yesterday gathering the first signatures on the petition which will be handed over to Burnley Health Care Trust and the community health council, probably next month.

Campaigners are worried at moves by the trust to transfer services to Park Road surgery. Last week the chiropody clinic was moved, said Coun Whipp, and health visitors and reception staff have also been transferred along with other services.

The Trust said the surgery could offer an "all-in-one" service to local people on one combined site, involving GPs, health staff and other specialists. But Coun Whipp said the surgery could not offer the same service to local parents as Butts Clinic.

"We are very concerned that babies and toddlers will lose the space which is so valuable at Butts," he said.

"All the youngsters have plenty of room to play whie waiting at the clinic and because conditions aren't cramped it's ideal for a drop-in baby clinic."

Coun Whipp said there was parking space and an area for prams and pushchairs which the surgery could not offer.

He said the Trust was moving individual services "by stealth" to avoid having to carry out the public consultation which would have been sparked if it had simply closed the clinic.

The Community Health Council has called on the Health Trust and East Lancashire Health Authority to carry out a full public consultation on the future of the clinic.

The surgery has grown in recent years as it has expanded through a row of terrace houses in Park Road.

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