STAFF at the Royal Blackburn Hospital are preparing for an inspection which could turn its A&E department’s reputation around.

A&E will be inspected by the Care Quality Commission on October 19 following a damning report issued in October 2013.

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East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust was previously issued with two formal warnings and failings around the “care and welfare of people who use the service” were highlighted.

After improvements, the health watchdog will return to re-assess the unit next month.

Kevin McGee, chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The trust welcomes the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection as this gives us all an opportunity to review our practices and ensure that we continue to provide effective care at all times to all our patients.”

In the past few days, the hospital has hit and exceeded the national four-hour waiting time target in A&E.

The goal is to ensure patients are seen by a nurse or doctor and discharged or admitted to the hospital within four hours of arriving at A&E.

Mr McGee said: “Our performance against the four-hour accident and emergency standard has exceeded the national standard over recent weeks with 97.79 per cent of patients being seen and discharged within four hours.

“This makes our A&E one of the best in the country – a superb achievement for everybody involved and a real tribute to how hard everybody works. Our goal now is to maintain this improvement and continue to beat the national targets.”