Gordon Prentice today expressed his serious concern at recently published figures which revealed that East Lancs Hospital Trust was at the bottom of the national table for  accident and emergency waiting times in the most recent three-monthly measurement.

The MP said: “The Department of Health measures the percentage of patients seen within four hours in all A&E departments, including Minor Injury Units and Walk-In Centres. The figures for East Lancs Hospitals Trust published last month show a marked deterioration in waiting times for major A&E cases between April and December last year.  Most  A&E departments achieve a level for these cases of over 95%, but East Lancs is down at 80%, and this figure was way below  the next lowest performing trust, Luton and Dunstable. These will be cases seen at Royal Blackburn Hospital and I am asking the Chief Executive what is being done to improve things, as the current figures look more like a trend than a one-off.”

The MP continued: “The County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee has been looking at the performance of the Hospital Trust since the big changes that were made in November 2007. I gave evidence to the Committee and called again for them to be referred to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel. The Panel is drawn from clinicians and managers with no axe to grind, who have wide expertise in handling and delivering successful healthcare change.”

“My own view is that we should reinstate ‘blue light’A&E at Burnley.”

Notes for Editors:

Figures for time spent in A&E are available from the Department of Health website

Details of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel can be found at  www.irpanel.org.uk