THE owners of the old people's home at the centre of a TB scare today said they were doing everything possible to ensure staff and residents' safety.

A 27-year-old female care worker at the Sandy Brook home, Lower Darwen, was diagnosed with tuberculosis earlier this week and the East Lancashire Health Authority said medics would test the 24 residents and 26 staff for the disease.

Gabrielle Madden-Ross, press officer for the North British Housing Association, which owns the home, said: "NBHA takes health and safety very seriously.

"We are liaising with the local Blackburn TB clinic. They will be screening people who have been in close contact with this member of staff and following their procedures."

Earlier this month, a staff member at Greenways old people's home, Darwen, contracted the disease. Sixty staff and residents were tested but none had caught it.

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