AN MP has called for the running of Chorley’s Accident and Emergency department to be handed over to a neighbouring trust such as the one which runs the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals.

Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle said something needs to be done to get the town’s emergency department back open after it closed more than three weeks ago after hospital bosses they didn’t have enough staff to run the department.

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Mr Hoyle said: “What is the management doing about it?

“If they can’t do it let’s bring in senior management or ask Blackburn or Wigan to run our A& E. That’s the conversation we need to have now.”

The emergency department at Chorley Hospital closed on April 18 with health chiefs saying they couldn’t keep facilities at both Chorley and Preston open because of a lack of mid-grade doctors.

Mr Hoyle said: “We want to know what’s happening, we are three weeks in and there’s been no movement.

“People are telling us the horror stories; the whole thing is unacceptable and it’s going to cost lives.

“We have a logjam at our A &Es, the management should hang their heads in shame. They ought to be honest and up front about what’s happening.”

The hospital is currently operating as an 8am-8pm Urgent Care Centre until the staffing issues are resolved.

Hospital bosses said two locum doctors are due to start next week but another four doctors are needed for the unit to reopen.

Mr Hoyle said he was in conversation with the Clinical Commissioning Group which commissions healthcare services for the community, but had been unable to organise a meeting with the trust.

Pete Smith, Unison branch secretary, said they were receiving daily briefings from the trust.

He said: “We are holding the trust to account. We have not seen any clear evidence that the trust could have avoided the situation.

“If we do then something needs to be done about it. The government has created this situation and they are getting away scot-free.”

More than 18,500 people have signed an online petition calling on the government to allocate more funds to keep the A&E department open. But the government said it’s recruitment not money that’s the issue.

A government spokesman said: “This local situation has not arisen because of funding constraints, this year Chorley and South Ribble CCG will receive £232.4 million funding which equates to a cash increase on the previous year of 3.05 per cent.

“There are also more doctors now locally than ever before.

“Between 2010 and 2016 the latest figures show that the number of doctors at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust increased by 94 and the number of nurses increased by 102.

“Recruitment remains an issue but the trust has taken a number of steps to try to secure a permanent, sustainable workforce to provide the A&E service, through national and international recruitment campaigns, offering enhanced pay, terms and conditions, adapting job roles and providing GP support in the emergency department.”

But Mr Hoyle said other hospitals, even in remote places like Barrow in Furness, were managing to recruit, so why not Chorley?

A group called Protect Chorley Hospital From Cuts and Privatisation said the response to their Saturday morning protests has been ‘overwhelming’.