A STATE-OF-THE-ART cardiac services centre will save the lives of heart attack victims in East Lancashire, one of the worst areas in the country for heart disease.

The heart unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital will provide specialist heart services for Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Health chiefs said the unit would double the number of operations surgeons can perform and vastly improve services for heart patients.

The hospital dealt with more than 750 patients from East Lancashire between April and November this year.

Dorothy Walsh, chairman of the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Community Health Council (CHC), said: "Hopefully it will help to save lives. It will be a service second to none which will bring great advantages to people in East Lancashire. Blackpool already has a good reputation for heart services and this will enhance that even more."

Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale CHC chairman Frank Clifford (pictured), who had a heart by-pass operations at Blackpool, said the CHC supported Blackpool over Preston Royal Hospital when deciding the best site for the unit.

"Blackpool is already an excellent centre with a proven record of achievement," he said. "It's record on successful outcomes for surgery is the best in the North West.

"We believe it was far better to develop an already excellent service than to start off from scratch at another hospital."

The project is expected to take three years to complete.