Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, today asked Mike Farrar, the Chief Executive of the North West Strategic Health Authority to undertake a special review of Burnley General’s Urgent Care Centre.

The move came during a 45 minute meeting at the Whitehall HQ of the Department of Health with Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice, who has called for an independent review of accident and emergency provision in East Lancashire.

But Burnham told the Pendle MP that he could not give a commitment to an independent review – precisely what the MP has been demanding. Prentice says that what is on offer "is not enough".

Speaking after the meeting, Prentice said: "The Minister told me he did not want to raise any expectations, and his offer of an internal NHS review is in no danger of doing that. My position remains unchanged. We will only be able to move forward if we have an independent review by clinicians with no axe to grind. I told the Minister I would accept the findings of such a review, with agreed terms of reference, and be bound by them. But what is being offered falls very far short of what I want."

"I told the Minister I wanted A&E back at Burnley but with a protocol published setting out the medical and surgical conditions Burnley would or would not be able to treat."

"Burnley already offers far more than a nurse led Urgent Care Centre. It has a consultant in emergency medicine working from 9-5 and 24 hour Senior Registrar cover. Emergencies are already admitted in obstetrics and gynaecology. There is no reason whatsoever why A&E cannot be brought back. It is, overwhelmingly, what people want."

"Mike Farrar conceded that implementation of the original proposals have been very poor. This is the understatement of the year as Blackburn’s A&E waiting times were the worst in England."

"The Health Secretary pointed to mortality figures as evidence that the changes were working. But even there, I pointed out that these could be explained by changes other than the reconfiguration of A&E."

"When it examined the changes to NHS hospital provision, Lancashire County Council’s Adult Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee took the view that: "The NHS must demonstrate that what was promised under MPN (Meeting Patients Needs) is being delivered. It should publicly prove that the reconfiguration is giving better outcomes for patients and has not been carried out for financial reasons. If this cannot be proven then the case must be made as to why a fully functioning round the clock Emergency Department cannot be provided at Burnley General Hospital as well as Royal Blackburn."

"The fact is that for two years, Blackburn has not been able to deliver on the maximum four hour wait in A&E."

"I wait to hear from the Secretary of State what the timetable is for this internal review and how it is to be progressed."

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