CAMPAIGNERS fighting to keep intensive care beds at both Queen's Park Hospital and Burnley General Hospital today welcomed a Government assurance that Accident and Emergency and some form of intensive care provision will remain at both sites.

Health Minister Liam Byrne told Burnley MP Kitty Ussher that options being considered as part of East Lancashire Hospitals Trust review of clinical services would enable both accident and emergency and some form of high dependency beds to remain at both sites.

Because Burnley General is the older of the two hospitals, it was expected that if accident and emergency and intensive care moved to one site, it would have been to Queen's Park.

But Mr Byrne told Mrs Ussher that he expected accident and emergency provision to be provided at both hospitals. And at the very least, he said, there would be high dependency beds which could "flex up" to intensive care if needed.

Mr Byrne also said there was no prospect of Burnley General closing and he said he "deeply regretted" that option ever being put forward. That option was dropped several weeks ago.

The review of clinical services in East Lancashire is proposing to centralise the area's 15 intensive care beds at either Burnley General Hospital or Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn.

Although both hospitals would still have high-dependency beds the minister's comments suggest there would also be intensive care at both sites too.

The East Lancashire Hospital Trust has two proposals remaining centralising intensive care at one site or restructuring services at both hospitals.

The two remaining options will be examined by an Evaluation Panel which meets tomorrow to decide which will go out to a 16-week public consultation starting later this month Mr Byrne promised Mrs Ussher, who called a special Commons debate on the issue, that he would closely monitor the consultation process.

She told Mr Byrne that her constituents should not suffer for the financial mismanagement of the East Lancashire Hospital Trust.

She said that if intensive care and accident and emergency services were cut at Burnley General, local people forced to travel to Blackburn would be more likely to die.

Mrs Ussher was supported in her debate by Pendle MP Gordon Prentice, Hyndburn's Greg Pope and Rossendale and Darwen's Janet Anderson.

Mrs Anderson said: "I was pleased by what r Byrne said in particular about women and children's services."

Mrs Ussher said: "This is a step in the right direction.

"We've come a long way but we are not there yet."

However former mayor and leader of the Liberal Democrats on Burnley council said: "We will not accept anything less than the provision we have now and if the options being put forward mean a reduction in services they will not be supported by the people of Burnley."