ONE of the issues identified in the Keogh report refers to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust’s handling of accident and emergency cases, particularly patients who are re-admitted.

It identified difficulties in ‘managing high patient levels, particularly in A&E, and understanding and addressing the issues causing high re-admission rates of patients treated’.

In May this year concerns were raised that hundreds of patients were being sent home from hospital too quickly to free up beds.

Figures showed East Lancashire had some of the highest re-admission rates in the UK.

The statistics covered the number of patients admitted through emergency wards within 30 days of being discharged from hospital.

At the time, bosses at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals acknowledged the need for improvement and said the reasons for the high rates were being investigated.

The re-admission rates for those living in the Blackburn postcode were the third highest in the country, with the rest of East Lancashire ranked 41st out of about 200 NHS authority areas.

The trust was also failing to meet a key NHS target for unplanned re-attendances at A&E.

In February it was also revealed Royal Blackburn Hospital received more ‘blue-light’ ambulances than any other in the North West.

Vehicles had been queueing up outside the accident and emergency unit waiting for treatment for long periods.

The new £9m emergency unit at Burnley General is expected to relieve pressure on the Royal Blackburn when it opens in September.

The fact that the existing unit received more emergency vehicles than casualty departments at other major hospitals including Manchester, Liverpool and Preston, was revealed to Hyndburn MP Graham Jones when he met ambulance chiefs.