A SEXUAL health clinic at Royal Blackburn Hospital is set to close with patients directed to Burnley until a replacement venue is agreed.

Health chiefs hope the Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) clinic will reopen at the Barbara Castle Way Health Centre in Blackburn next year, but this is yet to be confirmed.

The GUM clinic, which includes testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, HIV testing, contraception advice and also emergency contraception, will hold its final drop-in session on Thursday.

Hospital bosses said the closure will create valuable space at the Royal Blackburn to improve emergency care and to cope with winter pressures.

The GUM clinic’s staff will move over to the St Peter’s Centre in Burnley until a new Blackburn base is agreed.

Vanessa Hollings, divisional general manager of family care at the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this temporary relocation may cause.

“Our priority is to ensure that the patients using the GUM service continue to receive the quality of care that we have always delivered.”

The space created at the hospital will enable paients who come into hospital as an emergency to be treated in an outpatient setting.

Mrs Hollings added: “We hope that people will understand that by moving the GUM clinic, it will allow us to provide an additional service for patients who need care at one of the busiest times of the year.”

Coun Mohammed Khan, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s cabinet member for health and adult social care, said: “We will be working closely with our health partners to ensure a new permanent location is found for the GUM clinic as soon as possible.”