HEALTH Secretary Andy Burnham will step into the row over the fate of Merseyside's burns units by examining whether crucial facts and figures are false.

Mr Burnham will investigate complaints that health bosses have seriously under-estimated the number of patients that will be affected if the units at Whiston and Alder Hey are downgraded.

The breakthrough came after Merseyside MPs met the new Health Secretary at Westminster to press the case for the units to be saved.

The Northern Burn Care Network wants to create a "supra" centre at either Wythenshawe Hospital, Greater Manchester, Manchester Children's Hospital, or Pinderfields hospital in Wakefield, Yorkshire.

The move would downgrade the existing burns units at Whiston and Alder Hey and shift treatment of the most serious injuries to as far away as Wakefield.

The organisation is believed to have drawn up its shortlist on the basis that only about a dozen of the most serious Merseyside patients would be affected.

But last night the delegation of MPs, led by Knowsley South's Eddie O'Hara, presented Mr Burnham with statistics, suggesting the impact would be far greater.

Mr O'Hara said: "Mr Burnham agreed that our statistics, for the number of patients treated, the time taken and the success of that treatment, did not tally with the ones they had.

"Therefore, he will consult with the NHS in the North West to get to the bottom of the dispute about statistics – because we believe this will mean a worsening of the service."