But hospital bosses have denied the claims and said a 24-hour service will still be available and any timetable of changes will be made public.

"We have been told A&E definitely closes at the end of September," said a hospital worker who said they were speaking on behalf of other staff. The Express has agreed not to name the person or the department in which they work.

But this is a subject close to the Express's heart as residents are utterly opposed to plans to downgrade A&E, as evidenced by the massive support for the Express-backed Save Our Hospital campaign.

Ever since a radical review of hospital services including plans to move all emergency facilities from Burnley to Blackburn, were exposed in October 2005, residents and staff have fought to make their feeling known.

The campaign included a 70,000-signature petition, a protest march and trip to Westminster aboard a "battlebus" where protesters discussed their fears with Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt who vowed to look into the decision if it was "called in" by Lancashire County Council's Health Scrutiny Committee. The committee failed to do this, however, dooming the future of the town's vital service.

The fearful hospital worker said: "Nursing staff and everybody else in that department are gutted. Everyone is having to reapply for their jobs at different hospitals. They're all scared to death for their futures, they don't know if they will have a job."

They said that major and minor injuries will all be treated at Blackburn. Ambulances will stop coming to Burnley with A&E cases completely and A&E will be replaced by walk in centres at either St Peter's Health Centre or in the new Phase V block at Burnley General.

These claims, however, were refuted by hospital bosses at East Lancashire Hospitals' Trust HQ at the Royal Blackburn Hospital, which runs Burnley General.
Mr Joe Gibson, Director of Strategy and Implementation, said: "The new Meeting Patients' Needs service model (which was subject to a public consultation during 2006) made clear that there would be major changes to emergency care in East Lancashire. These changes are necessary in order to allow us to provide even higher quality emergency care to the East Lancashire population.
"A&E at Burnley General Hospital is not closing down; it will continue to see and treat up to 87% of its current patients who have a minor injury or illness in a 24 hour/7 days a week Urgent Care Centre.
"Indeed some of these patients will receive a service even closer to their homes through a network of these centres. Once the new service model is fully implemented the major emergencies – approximately 13% of attendances – will receive care at a single dedicated Emergency Department at the Royal Blackburn Hospital.
"The aim is to have implemented the bulk of the MPN service changes by December 2007.
"We are currently in the planning phase at this stage and therefore any implementation dates are estimates at the moment.
"We will make sure that the timings of service changes are communicated to the public well in advance of them taking place."