A HEALTH boss today warned that the Government must give extra cash to prevent East Lancashire hospitals from reaching crisis point.

Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust has been allocated £600,000 to help cope with the expected surge of emergencies during the winter.

But chief executive John Thomas said the money, which had come out of trust and East Lancashire Health Authority reserves, was the absolute minimum needed to prevent a winter crisis this year.

He said it was crucial that Government cash was allocated to ease the pressures of winter next year as the trust may not have enough money available from its own reserves.

During the past two winters, hospitals have been deluged with extra patients and they are bracing themselves for the influx again this year.

The trust and health authority is spending £600,000 on additional medical and orthopaedic beds, changing some five-day wards to seven-day wards, extending ambulance cover between Blackburn Royal Infirmary and Queen's Park Hospital and increasing nursing staff levels to help cope with the extra patients. Mr Thomas said: "This money is one-off funding for this year, but we cannot be sure that this money will be available to us next year as we don't know what financial pressure the trust will be under.

"It is important that any extra money that is allocated to us by the Government allows for recurring funding for winter pressures."

The trust is now preparing for the delicate balancing act of coping with winter pressures while still trying to meet Government targets for reducing waiting lists.

Mr Thomas said: "If you add together the money spent on winter pressures and the £1.2 million allocated by the Government to reduce waiting lists, that is almost an extra £2 million the trust has had this year to deal with these two problems.

"The £600,000 the trust and health authority has spent this year on winter pressures is the absolute minimum needed to cope with the situation. We really need this money to come from the Government on a recurring basis each year."

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