ONCE AGAIN casualties were left waiting to be treated in the backs of Ambulances outside the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Yesterday, in sub-zero temperatures,  ELEVEN ambulances were left queueing outside East Lancashire's now only A&E department. Ambulance paramedics said they had to wait up to two hours before they could hand over their patients to hospital staff.

In November 2007,  the A&E at Burnley General Hospital was shut down leaving the Blackburn Hospital A&E department  to deal with patients for the whole of East Lancashire, a population of over 600,000, and growing.

One paramedic said Ambulances queuing outside Blackburn A&E happens on a regular basis, even at normal times.

This means that at peak periods, Ambulance turnaround times have increased from an average of 20 minutes before the Burnley A&E closure,  to 2 hours at the Blackburn A&E. An increase of over 500 per-cent. 

Read More from the Lancashire Telegraph: Queue of 11 Ambulances outside Blackburn A&E

Related articles:

• Hospital backlogs delay ambulances
• A&E in MELTDOWN - Ambulances Queue outside Blackburn Hospital
• Ambulances to return to Burnley to alleviate Queues
  
• Blackburn A&E Closed, Ambulances sent over 28 miles to other hospitals 
• More Ambulances Queue at Blackburn Hospital
• Ambulances Queue, Overstretched hospital advises patients to 'go elsewhere'
• Ambulances kept waiting at Blackburn A&E 
• Scandal of patients left for Hours outside A&E 
• Outrage over A & E ambulance delays at Blackburn Hospital
• Ambulance journeys risk patients' lives