4:15pm Tuesday 13th July 2010
By Neil Docking
BURNLEY’S Labour Party leader has criticised political rivals for ‘broken promises’ about returning an A&E department to the town.
Coun Julie Cooper welcomed the review of Burnley General Hospital’s Urgent Care Centre, which was released last week.
It made 23 recommendations, including the upgrading of the centre to handle more ambulance cases, but said the most serious cases should still go to Blackburn, where A&E services were transferred in 2007.
Coun Cooper said: “This review was started well before the election, an election in which both the Liberal Democrat and Tory candidates promised a full return of A&E to Burnley.
"On this basis, there should not be any problem with the Lib Dem/Conservative coalition returning full service to Burnley.
“But the truth is more likely that the people of Burnley will not get their A&E back and the rest of us will be left to pick up the pieces of broken election promises.”
She said she would be pressing for the report’s recommendations to be implemented in full.
She said: “I am particularly interested in the recommendations relating to the elderly and paediatric care.
"These should be the top priority.
“I also believe that far more needs to be done to examine the levels of care and total patient experience at both sites.”
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