As readers of this column will know, I campaigned against the changes including organising a 10,000-signature petition and arranging a meeting with the Secretary of State for Health in London, who said she'd look at it sympathetically if it was referred to her by the relevant committee of local councillors. I urged those local councillors to do so but they decided not to. I still think they should.

However, the changes are going ahead so it is up to the hospital management to prove what they have always said is the case, that is, what they are doing will save more lives.

In the meantime, and this is a very serious issue, it does not help our people and our health service if there is scaremongering in the town about what is actually going on. Some people say our hospital is actually closing, and there is no urgent care available in Burnley.

This is simply not true. The plans agreed by the hospital are that nine out of 10 urgent cases can still be seen in Burnley, and we are also getting multi-million pound investment to specialise in other things like planned operations and maternity care.

It is crucial that people understand this because otherwise there will be lots of unnecessary journeys to Blackburn for urgent care and the service there will simply not be able to cope. Lives could be threatened by this alone. So the message is very simple: if it's a life-threatening emergency, ring for an ambulance and they will do whatever is necessary to stabilise the situation. Otherwise, go to Burnley Urgent Care Centre.

But that does not mean I am satisfied with the current situation. There is an enormous amount more the hospital management needs to do and I'll keep campaigning on this issue in the interests of my constituents.
What is interesting, however, is that people who actually use our health service are very pleased with it, 95% of the 2,000 local people who returned my survey forms on the NHS were satisfied with the services they receive.

After the conversation with the hospital chief executive it was off to Turf Moor to open a great conference being held for people in East Lancashire with learning disabilities. It's a group I've worked with before so it was nice to see some familiar faces and they were kind enough to give me a warm welcome.

Then it was down to Ightenhill to visit the new children's centre in Oak Street. It's a good facility so I'd encourage anyone living in that area to pay a visit. From there it was off to Tesco to hand out the computers in their Computers for Schools competition.

Later on, after a busy surgery in Asda, I attended a meeting of the Burnley and Padiham Fairtrade Steering group which I helped to establish a few years ago. The council (after a little bit of prodding!) has now come forward to help support the group which is a necessary step, so I am grateful to them for their help. Over the weekend I held another surgery in Burnley Bus Station and made a brief appearance at the St Andrew's Church Fair as well, of course, as joining other civic and military leaders for the annual open air Remembrance Sunday service in the town centre.

So, a busy but full weekend, and lots of good memories to sustain me through the week in Westminster that followed.