MORE than 8,000 people have signed a petition calling for the reopening of a hospital’s accident and emergency department.

Amjad Ali has launched the online petition calling for Burnley General Teaching Hospital’s A&E to be re-opened, a decade on from when it shut.

The hospital’s A&E department was closed on November 1, 2007, with services moved to Blackburn, and an urgent care centre set up in its place.

Ever since, the move has been a source of contention, with campaigners saying the closure has led to extra pressures on Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital’s A&E department.

Mr Ali, 45, from Burnley, set up the petition, after he said the closure of the A&E in the town ‘has cost lives’ - and he now hopes to deliver it to Burnley’s MP Julie Cooper.

He said: “I’m sick of seeing the A&E centre overrun in Blackburn and it’s getting worse and worse.

“Closing down A&E in Burnley is costing lives because people don’t want to spend between eight and nine hours sat in a waiting room or laid on a gurney in a corridor.

“I want what most people in Burnley, Nelson Colne and Padiham want - if 999 is called we get an ambulance here immediately not 24 minutes because it’s in Blackburn.

“Burnley may not have a massive population and we may not all agree with each other’s opinions all the time, but when it comes to Burnley A&E issue we all seem to say same thing - ‘we need our A&E department back’.

“This has to be brought to the attention of Julie Cooper so she knows as our representative what we want.

“After all, every vote she got was not just for the election it was for her term as MP.

“It is hard to ignore that many votes.”

Mrs Cooper MP said she would convey these ‘very serious concerns’ to the secretary of state for health when the completed petition is presented to her and said shewas sure that MPs for Pendle and Ribble Valley would do the same.

But Dr Damian Riley, executive medical director at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust said: “Historical changes to emergency services at Burnley General Hospital between 2007 and 2011, including the opening of a new urgent care centre, were necessary so that the highly specialist staff, equipment and facilities required for emergency medical treatment were available to every person who needs them, when they need them.”

“The new Urgent Care Centre at Burnley General Teaching Hospital is staffed with dedicated staff to deal with a wide range of illnesses and injuries, including doctors and nurses who specialise in minor illness and injury.

"We work closely with North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust to make sure sick patients are always transferred without delay to the centre which is best suited to their needs."

“Today, the Burnley Urgent Care Centre treats around 50,000 patients a year, with less than 1 per cent needing to be transferred to the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital for emergency medical treatment.”