A COUNCIL leader and Labour Parliamentary candidate has called on the government to provide more cash to pay for repairs at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Alyson Barnes, standing for Rossendale and Darwen at the next election, was checked by yesterday's revelation in the Lancashire Telegraph, that the organisation which runs the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General Teaching Hospitals had a repairs and maintenance backlog of £16.5million.

Of that sum, £221,000 worth are classified as high risk.

Cllr Barnes, leader of Rossendale Borough, said: "Our doctors and nurses here in Lancashire work so hard to look after us and the people we love. But we’re all being let down by a Government in Westminster that won’t pay for the basic repairs that we need to keep patients and NHS staff safe. They’re putting us and the people who care for us in danger. It’s a disgrace."