TWO rehabilitation units are to close and patients moved to a community hospital as part of a controversial reorganisation by health bosses.

Wards C1 and C3 at the Royal Blackburn Hospital, dealing with general rehab and stroke rehab cases, will shut on Friday.

Patients needing rehabilitation work will transfer, in the main, to the Marsden Unit at Pendle Community Hospital, Nelson, or smaller departments at Clitheroe Community Hospital or Accrington Victoria Hospital.

The move is part of the Meeting Patients Needs programme which is reorganising the way hospitals are providing care in East Lancashire.

Mother-of-four Harja Karolia, 60, from Blackburn, is one of a number of patients who will be relocated to health faciltiies across the county before the end of the week.

And Mrs Karolia's daughter, Matsuda Nightingale, is concerned her mother will not receive the care she needs.

She is adamant that possibly relocating her as far away as Pendle is unfair on her family and those of patients placed in similar circumstances.

"I just think that this is disgusting. It is not about meeting patients needs at all," said Matsuda, whose mother is suffering from a stroke-related condition.

"My mother was transferred from the Royal Preston, in mid to late May, because she is from Blackburn and it was easier for my younger brothers to visits.

"Now she is going to have to be moved again and we have only just found out."

Matsuda is also concerned at the travel difficulties many people will face travelling across to Pendle - she has been warned that in her mother's case that rehabilitation could take months to complete.

Shuttle buses operate between the Blackburn and Burnley hospitals.

"But for some patients in parts of Blackburn and Burnley it could mean at least two bus rides, or a train and bus journey, to reach Pendle.

A Meeting Patients Needs programme spokesman said: "The planned changes aim to ensure that we provide the best rehabilitation services to all patients in East Lancashire at the right time and in the right place.

"We no longer intend to provide rehabilitation wards at the Royal Blackburn Hospital - that deals primarily with emergency care."

Patients would be asssessed on a case-by-case basis - some would require a transfer, others could be discharged to recover at home and others may need to be moved back to an acute care bed, he added.

The rehab wards move is one of a number of changes in the pipeline for hospital services across East Lancashire, scheduled to take place before November 1.