East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) was established in 2003 and is a large integrated health care organisation providing high quality acute secondary healthcare for the people of East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen. 

We employ 10,000 staff, some of whom are award winning and internationally renowned for their work and achievements. We treat over 700,000 patients a year from the most serious of emergencies to planned operations and procedures. Our high quality healthcare services are offered across five hospital sites and various community sites. 

We have a total of 1041 beds:

  • 709 beds at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital
  • 240 beds at Burnley General Teaching Hospital
  • 32 beds at Clitheroe Community hospital
  • 67 Pendle Community Hospital

Our specialities

We provide a full range of acute hospital and adult community services and are a specialist centre for:

  • Hepatobiliary
  • Head and neck
  • Urological cancer services

And also provide:

  • Specialist cardiology services
  • Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care

Investing in the future

We are committed to delivering the best possible healthcare services to the local population while ensuring the future viability of our services. This will be achieved by continually improving the productivity and efficiency of services. Our core focus has enabled demonstrable improvement in our key access, quality and performance indicators.

There are two private finance initiative (PFI) schemes for parts of the buildings at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital and Burnley General Teaching Hospital sites, valued at over £70m and £20m respectively. We have made major investments in our healthcare facilities, particularly at our Burnley General Teaching Hospital site which saw the opening of our Elective Centre and Chemotherapy and Breast Clinic in 2017. Continuous investments in our health care services allow us to provide state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.

By working closely with our adult community services we can ensure that all patients have a high quality service whether they are in hospital, in the community or their own home.

Our objectives and values

At ELHT our objectives are to:

  • Put safety and quality at the heart of everything we do
  • Invest in and develop our workforce
  • Work with key stakeholders to develop effective partnerships
  • Encourage innovation and pathway reform, and deliver best practice

Our values are:

  • Put patients first
  • Respect the individual
  • Act with integrity
  • Serve the community
  • Promote positive change