CHIEF nurse Christine Pearson said East Lancashire’s hospitals have made ‘real improvements’ in terms of supporting clinicians to be open and transparent about mistakes.

Last month, a new NHS website ranked the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals among the worst in England for ‘open and honest reporting’.

But Mrs Pearson said: “We take very seriously the reporting of incidents where people are harmed within our care and see the reporting of this by staff as an indicator of the open culture within the trust.

“We have made real improvements over the past year in strengthening the processes to support clinicians in being open with patients when an incident has happened that resulted in patient harm and share the results of an investigation with them.

“We see transparency as key in driving quality improvements at the trust.”