East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust - Hospital Refurbishment

Hospital Refurbishment

The trust inherited two PFI construction projects from its predecessors, both planned in the 90s. The Blackburn Royal Infirmary (BRI), was decommissioned in the summer of 2006, after a new hospital building was built at the existing Queens Park Hospital (QPH) site in the town, so to merge the two sites into a single hospital for Blackburn. This meant the moving of many departments, and much publicity was made about the moving of the Accident and Emergency department, so to avoid public confusion of the exact time when the A&E at BRI shut, and the A&E at the newly merged Royal Blackburn Hospital site opened. Also at Burnley a smaller scheme known as Phase 5 was underway, intended to provide improved care of the elderly, and dermatology facilities.

Also, much consolidation has come into effect since the merging of the two original trusts. This has involved the closure of many wards and departments at the Burnley General Hospital, with much speculation of the site's belittlement. Despite this, a new building was completed at the Hospital in late 2007 (known as Phase 5). The Trust continues to make major investments on the Burnley site, with £32m development of the Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre and £0.3m fitting ventilation systems in two operating theatres, to undertake additional orthopaedic surgery.