A CENTRE of excellence for vascular surgery will finally be launched at the Royal Blackburn Hospital in April, after years of wrangling with other health trusts.

The plans include the recruitment of two extra consultants, another consultant radiologist, a vascular ward manager and new specialist equipment.

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It is a major boost to the hospitals trust which faces losing some specialist services subject to a regional review by NHS England.

More than 12,000 have signed Save Our Services petitions to safeguard local treatments as part of a Lancashire Telegraph campaign. Under the new proposals a dedicated ward will be provided on a temporary basis from April 1, with a permanent 20-bedded facility to be operational from October 2015.

The plan was first approved by the health secretary Jeremy Hunt in 2013, following recommendations from the Vascular Society that increasing the number of surgeons and the volume of operations would improve the service at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

But it was thrown into doubt last year when surgeons in Bolton refused to move their work to Blackburn, opting to merge their services with Greater Manchester instead.

This left ELHT without a partner organisation, but the trust has managed to satisfy the NHS it can still meet the specifications.

The trust has already purchased the new equipment, while installation of new theatre lights is set to start next month.

The changes are part of a re-organisation of complex vascular surgery in Lancashire, which concluded conditions needing complex surgery should be treated in Blackburn, Carlisle and Preston.

Lancaster, Bolton, Blackpool and Wigan will lose specialist surgery but keep routine procedures.

Kevin McGee, chief executive of ELHT, said at a recent board meeting: “I think we’ve been really proactive and made a clear strategic decision.”