HEALTH chiefs have decided how they will spend an unexpected multi-million-pound windfall presented to them by the NHS.

East Lancashire Primary Care Trust (PCT) had been ordered, like similar bodies, to pay £8.2million into a central NHS fighting fund to stave off financial crises within the health service generally.

But following a U-turn by regional health authority officials, the Nelson-based PCT, which covers all areas of East Lancashire expected Blackburn and Darwen, has been told that the funds are being returned for them to spend.

The trust has had to pay £2.75million into a contingency fund but had £2.5million left over from their 2006/07 spending, leaving the PCT board with just under £8million for one-off projects.

Around £2 million of that will be spent on the Meeting Patients' Needs programme, over the next three years, where services will be relocated from hospital settings to community facilities.

Another £2million will be spent on the trust's health inequalities prog-ramme, and £750,000, over the next two years, will go towards tackling a backlog in buildings maintenance.