THE number of patients being admitted to hospitals in East Lancashire has risen seven per cent over the last five years.

In 2008/9 the number of admissions was 119,964 but that figure has risen to 128,665 this year according to figures released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Nationally 41,500 patients are admitted to hospital every day which is up 12.7 per cent since 2008.

NHS hospitals dealt with 15.1 million admissions in 2012/13.

The new figures have raised concerns from the chairman of the Pennine Lancashire Patient Voices Group that the trust in East Lancashire might not be able to cope during the winter.

Russ McLean said: “In East Lancashire we are following the national trend.

“This is down to the older generation and people who with long term conditions being admitted.

“That has a significant impact on the numbers.

“There are still people that are attending inappropriately and this is getting worse.

“It will also increase over the winter period and that might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

“The trust has had extra funding and resources thrown at it to deal with the demand over the winter but this is a drop in the ocean.”

Val Bertenshaw, director of operations at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The number of admissions to the trust has risen over the past year and we, like other trusts in the country, are under pressure especially as winter approaches.

“One of the things the trust has put in place is the ‘Virtual Ward’ where patients with long term and/or chronic conditions are managed at home by advanced nursing staff when they become unwell rather than coming to hospital as an emergency admission.

“We are also developing ‘ambulatory care’ where people who do come to us as emergency admissions are not admitted to a ward and have any diagnostic tests and necessary treatment carried out as outpatients.

“We are committed to caring for patients in the community and reducing the need for people to be inpatients where possible.”