BEDS at Burnley General Hospital have been left empty while staff at the Royal Blackburn struggled to cope with huge surges in patients, it has been revealed.

The finding was published among more detailed information released as part of the Keogh Report, which has made wide-ranging criticisms of the way East Lancashire Hospitals Trust has been run.

The report, published after a series of inspections, raised concerns about the high attendance levels at Blackburn A&E, saying staff have become overstretched during busy periods.

It added: “Capacity at the Royal Blackburn Hospital was fully utilised during the visit due to the number of patients presenting at the emergency department...whilst in contrast, the review team observed empty beds in Burnley General Hospital.”

The inspectors said more patients should be sent to ‘step down’ beds in Burnley when their emergency care finished, which would ease pressure on services and staff in Blackburn.

Burnley’s A&E services were controversially downgraded in 2007, and the recommendation echoes some of the arguments put forward by campaigners, who said, at the time, the hospital would gradually deteriorate.

The report said the split in services between the towns ‘appears to be creating inequity of services’, while patients and families were often left confused about where they should go for care.

Pendle councillor Azhar Ali, who is also cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Lancashire County Council, said: “People like me have campaigned for years about the levels of care at Burnley.

“This report clearly points out the site is under-utilised.

“This needs to be urgently revisted by the trust and the clinical commissioning group.”

The trust was one of 11 health authorities which were placed in special measures on Tuesday, after the five-month Keogh investigation revealed governance failures, a poor complaints process and low staffing levels on nursing and medical wards, especially overnight.

Dr Ian Stanley, deputy medical director at the trust, said work had started to make better use of beds in Burnley, while extra medical and nursing staff had recently been drafted in.