PATIENTS had to be treated in ambulances queued up outside East Lancashire's accident and emergency department after being overwhelmed by the number of cases.

Hospital bosses said the situation lasted for three hours on Monday night due to a peak in demand which left them with no available beds.

An eyewitness described the scene at the Royal Blackburn Hospital as "absolute chaos", while a critic of the decision to leave just one A&E for the area said it was "outrageous".

But health chiefs said that the 'highest standards of patient care' were maintained. Demand peaked at 7pm.

A man who was at the A&E department said: "We were told that there were no beds for anyone so it was taking an age for anyone to be seen.

"Seeing all of all of these ambulances queueing up was unbelievable. There was chaos inside and everyone had a long wait."

Last November Burnley General Hospital was stripped out of its A&E department, with all East Lancashire's 999 cases heading to the Royal Blackburn.

Burnley Council leader Gordon Birtwistle, who campaigned to keep A&E in the town, said the events were "unacceptable".

He said: "It is outrageous that in 2008 there were ambulances queuing to get to a hospital. There is nothing wrong with the services at the hospital - it is just very difficult to get in the place.

"Nights like Monday are exactly what we said would happen when all of the emergency care was taken to Blackburn."

A trust spokesman said that the number of intensive care beds for East Lancs had not been reduced since the shake-up.

Lynda Walker, the emergency department service manager, said: "I can confirm that we experienced very high demand on our emergency department services.

"However we worked closely with the senior ambulance co-ordinator to make sure that delays for patients were kept to a minimum.

"All the patients were assessed on arrival in the department and following investigations and treatments, where appropriate, were admitted to relevant speciality beds.

"Our emergency department has a plan in place to deal with these kinds of peaks in demand, maintaining at all times the highest standards care."

We asked the trust how much the normal waiting time was and if the events on Monday were unusual, but a spokesman said was unable to give an answer.

A spokesman for the Lancashire Ambulance service said that paramedics worked hard with hospital staff to make sure that delays were minimal.

Coun Tony Humphries, vice-chair of the Blackburn with Darwen health scrutiny board, said: "There are concerns when there is a large number of people at the emergency department and delays can be very stressful. I will make some inquiries to find out if anything could have been done differently."