HOSPITALS in East Lancashire, it seems, have been pushed to the back of the queue in the share-out of the extra money the Government has given to combat another winter beds crisis in the NHS.

For out of the £22million earmarked for the North West, Blackburn and Burnley hospitals will have just £500,000 more to help them cope with the expected flood of emergency admissions. That is around half the size of the cash injections others in the region are getting.

The way this money has been allocated, we are told, has been to ensure that it goes "where it is needed most". And that guideline is the one followed by health minister Tessa Jowell and the NHS's North West Regional Office in deciding who gets what.

We just hope they have got it right. And they better have.

Previous news story

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.