IT is extremely worrying that yet again the Accident and Emergency department at East Lancashire’s showpiece Royal Blackburn Hospital has found itself unable to cope with the demands put on it.

On Monday evening the volume of patients forced the unit to close its doors for three hours and divert patients to hospitals up to 28 miles away.

The trust says the decision was taken reluctantly but on clinical advice that it was the only way to ensure casualties would be properly cared for.

What is disturbing is that there appears to be no obvious reason why the department should have been overwhelmed. Staff are not apparently suffering a wave of sickness and we are a long way from the middle of winter when ice and snow might be expected to cause a sudden increase in casualties.

An unexplained surge in patients is said to be cause but many will say what has happened merely proves that the department is not able to meet the extra demands placed upon it following the closure of Burnley’s A&E unit.

We said at the time of the controversial Burnley shutdown that the Trust had to prove to objectors that their concerns were ill-founded.

Incidents like this do nothing but confirm their worse fears.