Lancashire County Council's Health Scrutiny Committee has published a report into the closure of the Accident and Emergency Department at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital in April this year, and its replacement with an Urgent Care Service.



The report, which will be presented to the committee for formal approval on Tuesday 20 September, makes ten recommendations to organisations involved in providing and commissioning local health services.

Amongst the recommendations are a call for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust to produce a transparent, sustainable, realistic and achievable plan for the provision of services at Chorley by 22 November 2016.

Other recommendations include asking the Trust to extend the opening hours of the Urgent Care Service, and calling for a national review of the issues identified within the report.

The report's author, County Councillor Steve Holgate, chair of the Health Scrutiny Committee, said: "The closure of Chorley's Accident and Emergency Department has generated a huge amount of concern in the local area, so it is vitally important that the Health Scrutiny Committee put together this report.

"Over a number of months we have considered evidence from a wide variety of sources, including Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust, the local clinical commissioning groups, various NHS bodies, local MPs and local campaigners.

"This has been a rigorous process and we have identified a number of issues which have both a local and a national resonance. The key areas of concern for the committee have been around the impact of the closure, not just on residents of Chorley and South Ribble, but also on surrounding hospitals, policies and practices relating to recruitment, how the situation was communicated to local people and what the future holds.

"There are clearly significant problems in providing Emergency Care, not just here in Lancashire but across the country. I hope that this report can play a role in helping to provide solutions, particularly at a local level in Chorley."

The Health Scrutiny Committee's role is to review and scrutinise issues around public health and health inequalities. In doing so, it has a remit to look at the work and performance of any part of the county council and its partner organisations. It is a politically-balanced committee, reflecting the political make-up of the county council. Its membership is made up of 13 county councillors and 12 non-voting co-opted district council members.

The full report is available by following the link: [http://council.lancashire.gov.uk/doc...%20Chorley.pdf Emergency Care Crisis - Chorley]