Emergency Services
The Trust controversially closed the Accident and Emergency department at Burnley General Hospital in November 2007, replacing the department with an Urgent Care Centre, to treat less serious emergencies, whilst more critical cases would have to travel (by ambulance) to the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Blackburn Hospital. The Royal Blackburn Hospital also has an Urgent Care Centre in a separate building outside its own A&E department. This has enabled the Accident and Emergency department at Royal Blackburn to concentrate on the more serious cases from across the Trust, for which it is better equipped, with emergency theatres and an Intensive Care Unit. Following this move, a Helipad was constructed several meters from the entrance to the Accident and Emergency Department at Blackburn, so some critically ill/injured patients could be airlifted to the department by the North West Air Ambulance charity.
As is common in these situations, the decision was deeply unpopular with the public of the Burnley and Pendle districts, who where most affected by the change. A campaign to save/return the A&E service has become a central issue in local politics. Both the district’s current MPs where elected in 2010 on a platform of support for the campaign. At the end of 2011, Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle claimed a partial victory, with news of a new £12m emergency unit. However the trust has since stated the project is only about relocating the existing service and that there will be no return of accident and emergency to Burnley.
Read more about this topic: East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
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