RECORD levels of mental illness and beds closing are creating the 'perfect storm'.

That is according to East Lancashire's patients champion Russ McLean, who said there needs to be a 'parity of esteem' between mental and physical health to deal with the problem.

He made the comments during an interview with East Lancashire Hospital Trust (ELHT) chief executive Kevin McGee, who acknowledged there were 'pressures' on the A&E at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital.

Mr McLean, chairman of the Pennine Lancashire Patient Voices Group, said: "Over the last 10 years, we've seen some thousands of mental health beds close across the country and yet we have some of the highest incidents of mental health illness since records began.

"You do have a mental health unit on your site and indeed one on your Burnley site too.

"With more mentally ill patients unable to get access to beds and services, aren't we creating the perfect storm?

Mr McGee said in response: "This is a very difficult position.

"If you go into our A&E or urgent care centre, at anyone point in time, there will be a number of patients who've got both physical and mental health illness and that causes pressures for them, it causes pressure on staff, and there are occasions when it's not an appropriate setting to treat someone with a mental health illness."

John Bannister, director of operation at ELHT, said patient safety is the trust's 'first priority.'

He said: "Our A&E is not always the best environment for people in mental health crisis to wait for long periods.

"Care plans are developed jointly with Lancashire Care Foundation NHS Trust to ensure that patients receive the best possible care that meets their individual needs whilst in A&E.

“We work very closely with our partners across the health and social care system, especially Lancashire Care Foundation Trust. By working together our patients receive the most appropriate care at the earliest possible opportunity.”

A spokesman for Lancashire Care Foundation Trust, the main provider of mental health services in the area, said there has been 'high demand' for mental health services over the last few months, which is mirrored nationally.

A spokesman said: The level of mental health need has increased by 29.4 per cent since the start of the year.

"In May 2018 our teams in A&E did nearly 800 assessments across Lancashire, so it has been very busy and we are managing to see over 84 per cent of people in less than 4 hours.

"Of the circa 800 people assessed, only 10 per cent of people required an admission.

"We have put extra measures in place to manage this demand and are using our new enhanced community services to care for people outside of hospital where possible so that we can ensure that we have the capacity to admit those people that do require a stay in hospital."