One of the worst A and E's in the country

So, the Central Lancashire primary care trust has been highlighted by the Healthcare Commission as having a very poor Accident and Emergency department.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/health/health/article1735735.ece

And if Royal Preston Hospital is anything to go by, I'm not surprised. The hospital has just completed a new children's only A and E department, which is all well and good, but while this work has been going on a traumatic trip to A and E has been made even more traumatic by having to sit in a pile of rubble whilst waiting to be seen. OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but people I have spoken to who have visited recently have been less than impressed by the uncleanliness of the emergency department. There are other problems too - see what some people think of Royal Preston Hospital:

http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/Hospital.aspx?id=RXN02&page=1&v=4

The personal highlight of the hospital feedback for me is from Mr Lister, who visited the hospital last month when the aforementioned work was going on, and said: "It's how I imagine a hospital would be in third world country."

The irony is that the hospital say they have done this building work, which has left the A and E an unclean one, to improve the overall quality of the department. But that still doesn't help those who have had to experience a dirty department in this in between stage. Who, if they haven't caught MSRA, will have even more of a negative view of this country's healthcare system.