Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when was the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care informed of the decision to close the accident and emergency Department at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.

To ensure NHS services can best meet the needs of their local population and ensure the most efficient and safe use of the available resources during the response to COVID-19, it has been necessary to implement some temporary service changes. These changes will be kept under review during the period of the pandemic and services will be reinstated at an appropriate future juncture.

The accident and emergency department at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital has been temporarily modified to provide an urgent care level service. This change is to facilitate the treatment of acutely ill COVID-19 patients on a single site, at the Royal Preston Hospital. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care was informed of this change on 25 March 2020.

In Lancashire, in addition to the change at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, paediatric accident and emergency services are temporarily closed overnight at Ormskirk Hospital. NHS England and NHS Improvement have stated that there have been no further temporary closures of accident and emergency services in England during this time.