A PATIENTS' watchdog has accused hospital chiefs of releasing misleading' information about the impact a merger of East Lancashire's casualty departments would have on ambulance journey times.
Documents seen by the Lancashire Evening Tele-graph, produced for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, show that it will take 13 minutes longer to reach Queen's Park Hospital from Burnley town centre than it does to get to Burnley General at present.
The figure contrasts with the average five minutes longer' journey hospital bosses reported to protesters at a meeting held on Monday.
Other figures obtained by the Evening Telegraph include that it will take ambulances 11 minutes longer to get to casualty from Colne to Queen's Park, where emergency services could be centralised.
John Amos, vice-chairman of the Patient and Public Involvement Forum, desc-ribed the hospital's release of figures as misleading.' He said: "I don't think it is of any practical use to produce averages. It does nothing to re-assure anybody about what the situation is.
"We must be reassured if that people are not going to be put at greater risk by travelling further away."
Independent consultants ORH Ltd said the average journey to either Blackburn or Burnley emergency departments was 12.6 minutes and this would rise to 17 for A&E at Blackburn and 17.1 for Burnley.
The figures were the first to be drawn up outside of work by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and were this month handed to a panel set up to look at travel issues as part of the review.
Declan Harte, who is managing the review for the Trust, produced the five minute figure at a public meeting in Clayton-le-Moors on Monday, to widespread derision from the audience.
The report said two extra ambulances would be needed as an extra 35 ambulances would arrive at Queen's Park if that was to take on the bulk of East Lancashire's emergency work.
But it said the "majority" of all types of patients would still be seen at both hospitals or through more hospital-type services being delivered in the community.
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