A 'ONE-DAY-at-a-time' policy is rapidly gaining ground at Burnley hospitals.

Day case treatment has soared to record levels - with more and more people being discharged on the same day they undergo operations.

Over the last year Burnley Health Trust treated 24 per cent more day cases than in the previous 12 month period.

And the actual number of day cases treated over the past two years has rocketed from 8,750 to 14,226.

Elective admissions to hospital which are treated as day cases has soared from 45 per cent two years' ago to 63 per cent in the last 12 months. It means, for instance, a patient who two years ago spent two nights in Burnley hospital for a minor ENT operation, is now being discharged within seven hours.

The swing to day case has brought warnings from Burnley community health council watchdogs who say cost-cutting fast treatment is reducing the quality of care and could endanger patients.

Latest figures from the trust also reveal that 180,000 outpatients were treated in the year to April - a three per cent rise on the previous 12 months.

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