HEALTH bosses are poised to relocate a children's clinic - because the room is too smoky!

A monthly child health clinic has been held at Baxenden Conservative Club since 1991. The club came to the rescue of medics who were struggling to find a suitable site in the area.

But health chiefs want to move it to the more conventional surroundings of Baxenden Health Centre.

They claim the Conservative club is not "conducive to the health and well-being of young babies and children."

The clinic is held during the morning and medics have complained about the stale smell of cigarette smoke from the previous evening's social events.

A spokeswoman for the CommuniCare NHS Trust, which provides community health services in Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, said: "The Conservative club gave the clinic a home when it had nowhere to go in 1991.

"We were grateful because we needed somewhere to hold the clinic. But the numbers attending have fallen in the last few years.

"The district nurses flagged up the possibility that the club was not conducive to the health and well-being of young babies and children because of the smoky atmosphere.

"This is inevitable because it is a social club where people smoke and drink."

She said Dr Sheran Perera, the consultant paediatrician responsible for child health in Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, felt itwould be healthier for children to be treated elsewhere.

Nigel Robinson, chief officer of Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Community Health Council (CHC), said he had no objections to the clinic's relocation.

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