THE casualty department at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary is to get a check-up of its own from the city's health watchdogs.

Members of Lancaster's Community Health Council (CHC) are to hold a 24-hour vigil at the hospital's accident and emergency unit following complaints from patients.

Those complaints have come since the casualty unit was moved into the RLI's new Centenary building back in January.

Members of the CHC will spend 24 hours at the accident and emergency department starting at noon on Friday May 17, covering the normally busy Friday night period.

Judith Deft, chief officer at the CHC, told the Citizen: "It is no secret that we have had one or two complaints about the length of waiting times since the move into the new building.

"We need to put those complaints into some sort of perspective and hopefully this exercise will allow us to do that."

People using the casualty department during the inspection will be asked their views about the service with questionnaires covering waiting times, the standard of service and quality of facilities being handed out.

Judith added: "The department has moved into bigger premises but they have only got the same number of staff and we need to see how that is affecting services.

"We have a statutory right to visit health service premises but accident and emergency is a bit tricky because of the peaks and troughs during the day. That's why we stay for 24 hours.

"We need to do it because there are questions that only the patient can answer."

The May vigil will be the third of its kind carried out at the RLI since 1993.

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