THROUGHOUT the country, there have been real worries at the effect of European working hour rules on our stretched health services.

From this month the traditionally long working week for junior doctors is limited to 58 hours and in five years' time that figure will be cut again to 48 hours.

This left hospitals facing a potential staffing crisis and they needed to recruit more doctors fast to fill the gaps created by the reduced hours.

In an area that has traditionally had problems recruiting medical specialists we could have had a really tough time trying to woo doctors in competition with other places seen as more attractive but our health trusts seem to have triumphed.

A total of 74 doctors have been recruited to East Lancashire at a cost of £2.2million since last August to avert trouble - 42 specialist registrars and 32 senior house officers.

Other measures like extending the roles of health professionals like nurses should also help to ensure that over the next few years East Lancashire's services will experience a smooth transition as Blackburn Royal Infirmary is phased out in favour of the super hospital at Queen's Park.

It's rare to get such good news out of a normally beleaguered NHS.