AFTER months of painstaking planning, the wraps have finally come off the £15 million blueprint for Burnley General Hospital's new look.

Hospital bosses had to chose whether to build an extension from scratch or to make the most of what the existing buildings have to offer.

In the event, they decided they could get better results with more value for money from a massive revamp over the next four years.

Work will start in the Autumn, and with good luck all the conversions should be completed by the first year of the new millennium.

The man behind the scheme, director of facilities Geoffrey Summers, readily admits there will be upheaval while the work is carried out, but, he says, it will not compromise patient care

It will involve a series of complicated moves for a wide range of departments, and each job will have to be finished before the next can start.

One of the biggest changes patients will notice at first will affect young families.

Maternity and children's care will be based in the Edith Watson block to provide an integrated service as well as outpatient clinics for gynaecology, paediatrics and antenatal.

The current children's ward, in the Wilson Hey Unit, will then become part of a centralised day case surgery and treatment unit, with two new theatres dedicated to day care.

Changes in the way the hospital cares for mentally ill patients will leave several top floor wards vacant. They will be converted into an orthopaedic unit and linked by a new bridge to the Wilson Hey.

The space from the old orthopaedic unit will then become part of a specialist medical unit, replacing the current arrangement of having medical wards scattered around the hospital.

And once all that is done, Mr Summers and his team already have their eye on making life better for elderly patients.

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