HOSPITAL boss Jim Birrell said he was ‘disappointed’ by the results of an inpatient survey at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General.

The national Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey rated East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) as worse than average for treating patients with ‘respect and dignity’ and giving patients a good experience.

The trust scored average marks on the vast majority of the 70 indicators, with seven scores below average and just one score that was better.

Jim Birrell, interim chief executive of ELHT, said the survey was conducted while the trust was being inspected by NHS chief Sir Bruce Keogh last year, when staff were feeling ‘pretty down’.

But he added: “It was a bit of a disappointing inpatient survey result. It suggests we weren’t providing services at the level that we need to and we do know that we need to be doing better than this.”

He said he was also ‘really concerned’ that almost half of those polled in the 2013 staff survey said they would not recommend the trust as a place of treatment for their friends and family, as previously reported in the Lancashire Telegraph.

ELHT scored 8.2 out of ten for patients feeling they were treated with respect and dignity and 7.4 out of ten for ‘patients feeling they had a good experience’, which the CQC said were ‘worse’ scores than most other trusts.

It also scored poorly for the proportion of patients having confidence and trust in doctors and for patients having someone to talk to about their worries and fears.

The only score that was better than average was for patients ‘not feeling threatened by other patients or visitors’.

The CQC did not rank the hospitals under each measure, stating only whether they were ‘worse, about the same, or better’ than others.

The regulator is preparing to bring about 50 officials to East Lancashire next week for a major three-day inspection of ELHT, which has been in special measures since last July.