HOSPITAL staff in East Lancashire must learn to face difficult and uncomfortable facts if patients are to get better services, the area's health boss has warned.

Jo Cubbon (left), chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, said there had to be a "climate where truth is heard." She spoke as the trust outlined how it will be ready to bid for foundation trust status by 2008.

Foundations trusts have greater independence from the Government which wants all trusts to be in a position to apply by 2008.

In crucial yearly Healthcare Commission ratings, the trust was termed weak', the worst score, for financial management but rated good' for quality of service at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, Queen's Park Hospital, and Burnley General Hospital, in the 12 months to April.

It is currently facing its biggest financial challenge, to save £14 million by April.

Improvements must be made if the authority is to become a foundation trust, bosses said.

In a report to managers, Mrs Cubbon said: "We must create a climate where truth is heard and difficult and uncom-fortable facts are confronted.

"We have to create a cultural environment where staff continually question their current state and position with a desire to improve.

"We are currently tackling an important stage in the development of the organisation, of confronting where we are and where we want to be."

The trust has also produced an "organisational development strategy" to support its foundation trust bid.

Its author, deputy chief executive and human resources boss, Gary Graham, said: "For the trust to be successful as an NHS foundation trust we will need to change the culture across the organisation."

He said the board of governors would "make us more efficient and responsive to the needs of our local community" and give it "freedoms that have not previously been made available".

Mr Graham said key challenges faced by the trust were the changing health needs of people in East Lancashire but also competition by other hospitals and providers.

People now have a choice of hospitals, including the private sector, to have their operation.

He said: "Already we anticipate that the trust will need skills it currently does not formally possess."