Enter and view: East Lancashire Medical Services
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Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen undertook an announced enter and view visit to East Lancashire Medical Services (ELMS) on 31 August 2025. They spoke to 23 people.
East Lancashire Medical Services is located off Accrington Road on a main bus route into Blackburn town centre. Although there is no signage directly on the road, patients all found the service easy to find and there was sufficient parking available including disabled spaces. The service is delivered from two buildings, with one building dedicated to providing an out of hours GP offer for children and the other for adults.
The service is bright, clean, hygienic, and accessible. The walls in both buildings, however, are rather bare and the service could promote patient information on display boards for example different services available locally and health screening information. The music being played in the children’s section made for a more relaxed atmosphere and would be good to have in both buildings.
The website is informative, but we noted that it does not have accessibility functions or language options built into it. Patients Healthwatch spoke with were able to get through to 111 without any issues and were booked in with ELMS on a timely basis after the initial call or online booking. When patients arrived at ELMS they were seen on time or waited up to 45 minutes if it was a busy day. Staff did however inform patients if there was a long wait time.
Patients felt that they had enough time with a clinician and found the staff to be friendly, supportive and good at explaining their diagnosis. All of the patients would recommend the service to family and friends.
Staff felt sufficiently trained to carry out their roles and felt that their service was helping to reduce attends at Royal Blackburn Emergency Department. They felt that patients are able to get an appointment with ELMS easily via 111, however they did feel that not all referrals from 111 were appropriate.
Overall, the service was viewed by Healthwatch to be effective and supportive of patients.