A COMMUNITY health boss has pledged to save a million years of life by stopping East Lancashire people "dying before their time".

The vow was made at a health and well-being summit at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Clayton-le-Moors, this week.

East Lancashire Primary Care Trust chairman Kathy Reade said a massive five-year campaign was needed to tackle the social problems and deprivation which lead to premature death throughout the area.

More than 100 delegates at the conference, from the public and private sectors, signed pledges saying: "We care deeply about improving the health and well-being of the people in East Lancashire and are committed to making a difference.

"Working in partnership, we will reduce health inequalities by making measurable improvem-ents and by raising aspirations in our local communities."

The PCT has calculated it can save one million years of life by increasing life expectancy from 75.27 years to 77.97 for men, and from 79.66 to 82.26 for women.

The extra two-and-a-half years on everyone's lives, multiplied by the area's population of 382,200, means more than a million years added altogether.

Mrs Reade said: "Some of our people are living in areas of great stress.

"They live where loan sharks and drug dealers hold sway, and they are literally dying before their time. We cannot be complicit with this injustice, or these outrages.

"These people need our assistance to get out of the health trap - the trap that means where you are born determines the quality and length of your life.

"The partnerships we have in place are already improving health, but today is a stake in the ground for step change.

"We need to pull together to prevent ill health in the first place and to develop conditions for well-being."

NHS chief executive David Nicholson backed her calls, saying improvements had been made in hospital care, but that the real challenges were in tackling health inequality.

He said: "This event is an opportunity to make a step change.

"To save one million lives is going to be a tough challenge.

"I am absolutely with you and we will do everything we can at the centre to help you."