ONE hundred hospital staff may have to re-apply for their jobs after health bosses unveiled plans to merge East Lancashire's medical records units.

The unit at Burnley General is being closed and merged with the Royal Blackburn's facility.

Staff from both departments will have to apply for jobs in the Blackburn unit, but new posts will also be created.

Bosses of the East Lancashire NHS Hospitals Trust said there was a "likelyhood" of job losses as there would be more people than positions.

The merger will take place in November at the same time as Burnley's capability to handle 999 emergencies will be stripped to the Royal Blackburn.

Hospital chiefs are in consultation with workers to determine how many positions there will be in the merged unit.

A worker at Blackburn medical records unit, who did not want to be named, said that rather than less staff they needed more.

He said: " They have already started sending some notes across from Burnley but there's not the physical room to store them.

"There's not enough people in Blackburn and we are crying out for staff."

Union bosses said they were consulting with health chiefs.

A spokesperson for the trust said: "The Burnley medical records section is going to be merged with the unit in Blackburn.

"We are going through a consultation process as with the A&E department and the staff will be competitively interviewed for their roles if there are more people than roles.

"There's a likelyhood that there will be more people than jobs."

"Staff will be affected across both locations in Burnley and Blackburn."