A CAMPAIGN has been launched by Burnley’s MP to prevent the fracture clinic at the town’s general hospital being lost to Blackburn.

Hospital bosses have alternately claimed that patients are facing a wait of up to two weeks to secure an appointment at Burnley General, and that the facility is ‘under-utilised’.

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But MP Julie Cooper has disputed claims by East Lancashire Hospital NHS Trust that transferring the service to the Royal Blackburn site is the best option for patients in Burnley and Pendle.

Launching a protest petition, she said: “I consider this to be a ridiculous decision and I cannot believe the statement that has been made by the trust, asserting that Burnley does not need its own fracture clinic.

“Anyone who has attended the urgent care centre at Burnley on a busy Saturday night or Sunday morning, or read the accident figures for fractures to the elderly during winter months, will see straight through that argument. I simply do not accept the claims or the figures that they are producing on this issue.”

The switch is the second time that Burnley General has lost the fracture clinic service after it was first controversially transferred to Blackburn under the Meeting Patients Needs initiative in seven or eight years ago.

Mrs Cooper added: “I believe that this is flawed thinking and completely false economy. Any savings made by closure of the unit must be weighed against the huge increase in patient transport costs as most fractures require several months of follow-up hospital appointments.

“And what about the human cost of unnecessary pain and suffering, let alone the lost working hours and the sheer inconvenience? Do people count for nothing?”

Qaisar Choudry, the hospital trust’s clinical director, said: “It is unacceptable that our patients wait far longer than is recommended by British Orthopaedic Guidelines and I am confident that people will appreciate being seen much sooner, at the right time and place. The result will be a better quality and safer service for all.”

The petition can be signed at the MP’s Keirby Walk office.