Longridge Community Hospital

• LSCFT memory assessment clinic
• ASCENTI physiotherapy
• LSCFT community neurorehabilitation team
• LSCFT speech and language therapy
• East Lancashire diabetic eye screening
• LSCFT talking therapies (including Talking Therapies – Rosa)
• LSCFT heart failure service
• LSCFT treatment room services
• LSCFT podiatry
• LSCFT ad hoc therapy services (including gymnasium use)

The building was constructed before the current fire regulations came into place.  As part of joint planning with ICB, LSCFT and NHS PS to return the beds to the upper floor structural surveys of the building we completed to plan fire compartmentalisation in the roof space.  Unfortunately, results from a technical survey of the building identified further structural issues.  This meant that the ground floor patients in beds were at risk and an immediate Business Continuity incident was called to relocate the bedded service.

The remaining services are able to continue in the building as the site meets evacuation standards for mobile/ambulatory patients.  Bedded patients need supported evacuation and the regulations concerning this type of usage are more stringent to give additional time for evacuation to be completed.

There are high level costs at this stage and building costs may vary once detailed plans are developed. Indicative costs are up to £8M.  However, there are other considerations due to multiple services being delivered from Longridge Community Hospital and any reconfiguration could potentially disrupt those services. We will have to consider all the impacts.

The original plan was based on the information available at the time, and aimed to improve the Fire compartmentalisation in the roof of the building as well as improvements to the layout on the upper floor. However, when the specialist fire contractors surveyed the site in November 2025 they uncovered further structural issues. This made the building unsafe for bedded patients because the regulations stipulate a 60-minute minimum evacuation time, and the proposed compartmentalisation would not be sufficient to meet regulations without other structural improvements.  

The impact assessments completed are for temporary relocation to maintain Business Continuity of services. Future plans will require impact assessment to be completed based on local health needs and rurality and based on quality, equality and equity of provision. This will be part of the process we need to complete with NHS England. This process involves public and stakeholder engagement at every point in the process and it will be important to have local community views to inform these assessments.  We know that rurality is a factor, but it is important to hear the views of the community so that we can better understand how that impacts people when using our services.

This has not been decided. There is a multiple stage process we must follow and this includes public engagement at every stage. This is a detailed process that can take 2-3 years and will consider all options and the associated risks and benefits of each.

As part of planning processes, we would consider all potential options initially and then discount some and get to a preferred set of options that can be considered in detail. In this case, we were originally trying to maintain services as they were previously configured. Since this was not as straight forward as originally thought, we now need to take the time to plan with the local community and partners to ensure the services delivered from LCH are right for the future.  We will be considering the national direction on Neighbourhood health models and left shift, as well as the intermediate care strategy of the ICB to ensure we are considering future service configuration and health needs. There is an opportunity to have an open discussion about what could be delivered from this estate in future.

We believe this is an opportunity to explore what care closer to home would mean in Longridge and the surrounding communities. Are the current services the right ones? Is there something that would make a big difference to the local community and improve health, wellbeing and outcomes?

We will have to engage with the local community at every stage and this is set out in NHS England guidance. The process can take 2-3 years in full because of the need to engage throughout. The precise details of when and how will need to form part of a programme of work. We will need to submit our planning to NHS England via gateways were they scrutinise our programme to ensure we have engaged and taken into account local views.

We use various data to understand the local populations we serve. There are a number of District level profiles on the Lancashire County Council Website which are a useful starting point, but we will need to detail the population health needs as part of the planning. We understand this is a rural community; however, engagement will be important to ensure that we understand local community views and adding to the data with more qualitative information from people living in the local area.

There has been discussion with the Local Authority on the situation, in particular, the business continuity incident. The Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board will need to have oversight of our programme and plans. We will also involve the District Councils in the engagement and planning process. Staff and local Voluntary and Faith organisations will also be involved in engagement.

It’s important to note that the ward is open and operating from a temporary location.  This is a service that is still open to all Central Lancashire residents that need nursing support following hospital admission and ill health. 

‘Concerns raised by most constituents’ submitted by MP 30 April 2026
*only including the points not answered directly in slides

Blood clinics closed, requiring bloods to be taken at GP clinics, which would result in delays in results.

This is a separate issue from Longridge, relating to issues raised primarily in the Chorley area. Following the implementation of the new primary care LES in April 2025, some GP practices stopped taking primary care bloods. LSCFT supported this by establishing drop-in clinics, which started in November.

ICB statutory guidelines, feel that these haven’t been followed, ICB should be including all discussions regarding any changes and collaborating with us to find solutions, not just providing updates on their website “keeping us informed.” / Requests for the ICB to explain how they have met the legal obligations under The Health and Care Act 2022 in relation to all that has happened so far. Queries on what is in place, in respect to public involvement for any future development and decisions regarding the hospital

The NHS has to be able to make temporary service changes where issues of patient safety have been identified quickly and appropriately, which is what happened in this case. The long-term future of services at Longridge Hospital will absolutely be part of a robust engagement process which will involve the local community before any decisions are made.

Many constituents have noted care and service patients received at Longridge Community Hospital was fantastic, particularly end of life and post op.

Feedback from patients using the Longridge@Cuerden ward also extremely positive. We had no concerns regarding the quality of the service provided at Longridge, but patient safety is always the number one priority and we have to ensure buildings are safe for services to be provided from.