ROYAL Blackburn Hospital’s under-pressure casualty unit had one of the highest rates of admissions for assault victims in England over last full year.

New figures from the government’s Health and Social Care Information Centre show that its accident and emergency department faced the third greatest pressure in England from attack targets needing further treatment.

The statistics relate to the old NHS Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust, abolished on March 31. They reveal that the number of assault victims received by the hospital’s casualty team needing in-patient treatment was 40.3 per 10,000 population in the 12 months from April 1, 2012.

This was only exceeded in Tower Hamlets PCT in East London at 46.2 per 10,000 and Darlington PCT in the north east at 41.6 per 10,000.

The shock figure comes despite an overall fall nationally in assault admissions and follows Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt sending a rescue team of experts into the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which now runs the Royal Blackburn, earlier this week.

The minister put it and ten other trusts into special measures because of high death rates and poor performance.

The HSCIC said the North West had 9.9 assault cases per 10,000 of the population compared to 3.5 cases per 10,000 of the population in South Central.

The Keogh report which sparked the move to send in the external review team identified difficulties in “managing high patient levels, particularly in A&E”, as a serious problem at the Royal Blackburn.

East Lancashire Patients’ Voice group chairman Russ McLean said: “This helps explain the levels of pressure and the problems at the Royal Blackburn’s A&E department.

“They show why we need extra staff and investment in it as a matter of urgency.”

HSCIC chair Kingsley Manning said: “Today’s figures clearly show regional variation in the levels of assault experienced by local populations which result in hospital admissions.

“This information provides crucial evidence for health service commissioners, as well as local councils and police forces, ensuring they can direct resources effectively to the problem.”