THE emergency services at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospital are among the busiest in the country, new figures have confirmed.

According to Hospital Episode Statistics covering A&E services, there were 172,881 attendances at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) last year, which was the 17th highest total out of about 200 trusts.

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This was the second highest in the North West, behind Pennine Acute Hospitals, although this is a larger organisation which controls four major hospitals.

The Preston and Chorley-based Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which is of similar size to ELHT, had just 122,328 attendances in 2013/14 – the 60th highest total.

The figures confirm ELHT is one of the most under-pressure NHS trusts in the country, and raise questions for the whole health economy in Pennine Lancashire, including GPs, North West Ambulance Service and social care departments, which are all struggling with limited budgets to prevent people from turning up at hospital.

Earlier this month, the Lancashire Telegraph revealed ambitious plans to build a 24-hour GP surgery outside the Royal Blackburn Hospital, which would aim to ease pressure on emergency staff. The plans have been submitted by a newly-formed ‘federation’ of GPs but are dependent on a bid for government cash.

Long-standing problems with the emergency department were one of the key reasons for ELHT being placed in special measures in 2013, and though significant improvements have since been made, staff are still under severe pressure.

The high numbers of patients at East Lancashire’s hospitals contributed to poor performance figures in 2013/14, which showed just 93 per cent of patients were dealt with within four hours, which was slightly worse than the national average. Performance has improved this year to 94.5 per cent, however, which is better than the average.

Kevin McGee, the trust chief executive, has thanked the hospitals’ ‘brilliant’ staff for coping with the pressure, while director of operations Gill Simpson said: “We continue to put significant resources into supporting the clinical staff with senior and clinical management staff on the ground.”