Already, around 70,000 people have signed petitions calling for East Lancashire NHS Hospitals Trust to abandon options that would result in the downgrading of vital life-saving facilities at Burnley General Hospital.
A major public consultation exercise is now under way and the Express urges every one of those 70,000 people to re-inforce their opposition to the life-threatening plans by registering their formal protest before the deadline in July. So far, only 850 people have voiced their opinions under the consultation process. The public consultation scheme is our last chance to deliver a clear and concise message to those bureaucrats who seem hell-bent on forging ahead with their centralisation proposals.
Our call is being backed by civic leaders, health workers, politicians and unions who are genuinely fearful of the controversial plans. Our message is simple – we would rather save lives than save pounds!

ONLY 850 people have told hospital bosses what they think about plans to drastically reform services – now we are calling on YOU.
We are halfway through the consultation period and – despite the thousands of residents who signed the Express petition and the hundreds who took part in the protest march – the response has been poor.
That is why we, as the town's newspaper, are issuing a rallying call, urging each and every person to speak up and make hospital bosses listen by filling in our coupon, adding a couple of sentences outlining your views and sending it back to the address on the coupon.
This is our ONLY opportunity as a borough to really make our feelings known and these changes directly affect all of us, regardless of age, background or medical history.
The bosses of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust have laid out two options for the future of services at Burnley General Hospital and Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn.
Essentially, the most significant difference is that all planned surgery will be carried out at Burnley with all emergency cases treated at Blackburn, leaving Burnley's accident and emergency department as a treatment centre for minor illnesses and injuries.
The options are:
Model A – All planned care and a specialist women's unit at Burnley and all emergency cases and in-patient children at Blackburn. Queen's Park would have intensive care beds and Burnley would have high dependency beds, which could be upgraded to temporary intensive care beds.
Both sites would have out-patient clinics as well as day case surgery and diagnostic facilities.
Model B – All planned care at Burnley with all emergency cases, in-patient children's wards and a specialist women's unit at Queen's Park. Blackburn would have intensive care beds and Burnley high dependency beds, which could be upgraded to temporary intensive care beds.
Both sites would have out-patient clinics as well as day case surgery and diagnostic facilities.
The consultation runs until Monday, July 10th, when all responses will be collated and a decision made by a committee of health bosses.

Anyone wanting a copy of the consultation document, which contains more details about the proposals, can be obtained by calling 01254 475200.