ONLY half of Royal Blackburn and Burnley General staff would be happy for the hospitals to treat their friends and family, according to newly published survey results.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust [ELHT] has performed badly on the headline measure in the 2013 NHS Staff Survey, receiving the 17th lowest score out of 160 trusts.

Just 51 per cent of staff said they would be happy with the standard of treatment if their friend or relative was a patient at the trust.

The national average was 65 per cent.

The score is unsurprising given ELHT has been in special measures for seven months, after NHS inspectors made wide-ranging criticisms of the way it has been run over several years.

Bosses said they were ‘disappointed’ with the survey results, but pointed to strong scores around staff feeling able to contribute toward improvements, effective team working, staff not working extra hours and not suffering work-related stress.

Nearly 1,700 workers took part in the survey.

Kevin Moynes, interim director of human resources and organisational development at ELHT, said: “We appreciate it has been a difficult year for all our staff but we are confident that things are improving at the trust. This demonstrates that we are getting things right in certain areas and are well on the way to improving future results.

“We are better than average in 16 of the 28 areas, average in five and there are seven areas of concern which we are already addressing.”

Steve Flanagan, regional director for the Royal College of Nursing in the North West, said: “Many of our region’s trusts are doing well but there are pockets of concern too.

“East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is under significant pressure from increasing demands.

“It is vitally important that management teams across the NHS listen to front-line nurses, and health care assistants, as they seek to improve on their scores from last year.”