I WRITE regarding the plans for hospital facilities in Burnley. Peter Pike, the former MP for Burnley, once described Burnley as "A town with inner city problems".

It would seem that those running our local hospital from afar now want to relegate Burnley, and Pendle also, to an outstation of Blackburn.

At that point we will be able to declare the locality "an urban area with rural health facilities".

There can be two justifications only for closing the accident and emergency department and intensive care units at Burnley General.

First, would be on the grounds of efficiency where there is evidence that over a prolonged period of time the facilities have been grossly under-utilised.

I believe the opposite is the case and judging by the stories in the local press from my fellow citizens, many of them might have died had they been unable to receive immediate treatment at Burnley.

The second justification would be on the grounds of effectiveness, namely that for many years the units in question have experienced acute staffing problems significantly greater than the national average, which has resulted in sub-optimal service. To my knowledge this is not the case.

The proposals emanating from the East Lancashire NHS Trust represent a wholly disastrous move that I believe will result in people dying unnecessarily.

That is both shocking and shameful.

To add insult to injury, the trust board now appears to be in a state of sheer panic and working under a siege mentality.

At short notice it changed the location of a board meeting open to the public to a venue that was difficult for people to find and could accommodate a few members of the public only.

As further evidence of its desperation it now has the temerity to blame the press for its current woes.

This is not the way for any organisation to behave, least of all a publicly-funded body like the NHS.

Sadly our elected representatives at national and local level seem just as impotent as the rest of us in their lack of influence in shaping local health service provision. I guess we will just have to show our displeasure at the ballot box.

I realise that this is not the best way to proceed but what other choice do we have when faced with an unelected, unrepresentative public bureau that is coming forward with plans that may result in some of us dying?

KEVIN HEY, Castle Road, Colne.