A&E Trauma Unit

Blackburn A&E Live Waiting Times

Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

Latest report
22 hr 55 min
22 Oct 01:11
Average
11 hr 44 min
9 reports
Reported by visitors, not the hospital. Waits shown here are typical for non-urgent cases. Patients are seen in order of clinical priority, so the most seriously ill are always seen first no matter how busy the department is.
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0 minutes total
Community reported wait times

These times are reported by visitors and may not reflect current conditions.

Nearby A&E & urgent care
Warrington Hospital A&E
24.4 mi away
Long wait
Runcorn Urgent Treatment Centre
30.1 mi away
Long wait
Leighton Hospital A&E
42.8 mi away
Long wait
Leek MIU
47.7 mi away
Short wait
Haywood Hospital Walk-in Centre
48.3 mi away
Long wait

There are also other nearby A&Es which collect wait times from the community, including Chorley And South Ribble Hospital, Royal Preston Hospital and Royal Bolton Hospital.

Contact & location
Haslingden Road, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB2 3HH
Switchboard: 01254 263555
Opening times
Monday TodayOpen 24 hours
TuesdayOpen 24 hours
WednesdayOpen 24 hours
ThursdayOpen 24 hours
FridayOpen 24 hours
SaturdayOpen 24 hours
SundayOpen 24 hours
Getting here
Train stations
Blackburn Rail Station17 min walk to A&E
Mill Hill (Lancs) Rail Station31 min walk to A&E
Cherry Tree Rail Station44 min walk to A&E
Rishton Rail Station53 min walk to A&E
Darwen Rail Station55 min walk to A&E
Bus stops
7 routes·4 operators·5 stops within walking distance
Haslingden Road (adj, eastbound)3 min walk to A&E
12ATransdevBlackburn Town Centre
12CTransdevBlackburn Town Centre
22TransdevBlackburn Town Centre ↔ Shadsworth
481TransdevBlackburn Town Centre ↔ Bury
59StagecoachPreston City Centre ↔ Royal Blackburn Hospital
HS1Moving PeopleBlackburn Town Centre ↔ Browhead
Haslingden Road (by, westbound)3 min walk to A&E
12ATransdevBlackburn Town Centre
12CTransdevBlackburn Town Centre
22TransdevShadsworth ↔ Clitheroe Town Centre
481TransdevBury ↔ Blackburn Town Centre
59StagecoachRoyal Blackburn Hospital ↔ Preston City Centre
822Red Rose TravelGuide ↔ Darwen
HS1Moving PeopleBrowhead ↔ Blackburn Town Centre
Haslingden Road KFC (adj, north-west)3 min walk to A&E
12ATransdevBlackburn Town Centre
22TransdevShadsworth ↔ Clitheroe Town Centre
481TransdevBury ↔ Blackburn Town Centre
59StagecoachRoyal Blackburn Hospital ↔ Preston City Centre
HS1Moving PeopleBrowhead ↔ Blackburn Town Centre
Observatory Hotel (opp, eastbound)3 min walk to A&E
12ATransdevBlackburn Town Centre
822Red Rose TravelDarwen ↔ Guide
Observatory Hotel (o/s, westbound)3 min walk to A&E
12CTransdevBlackburn Town Centre
822Red Rose TravelGuide ↔ Darwen
Plan journey by public transport
What’s available here
Accessibility
Disabled ParkingDisabled WcInduction LoopSigning Service AvailableStep Free AccessWheelchair Access
Accommodation
Access To TvInternet AccessPublic Telephone
Parking
Car ParkingDisabled Parking
Food and Amenities
CafeShop
Recent visitor feedbackreported by visitors
Overall
Not recommended by visitors
Staff
Staff can be unhelpful
Not always kept informed about wait times
Triage is typically quick
Environment
Waiting area is clean
Toilets could be cleaner
Waiting area feels safe
Family
No children’s play area
No separate children’s waiting area
Facilities
Seating can be limited
No TV in the waiting area
Food and drink available nearby
No phone charging points
No free WiFi
Mobile signal is good
Parking
Parking can get busy
Payment accepted: card
Based on 2 visitor responses in the last 6 months. This information is collected through a short anonymous survey shown to visitors on this page.
Visitor experiencesshared by visitors

“The staff are impeccable. There was a long wait time, but staff seemed to check in on everyone quite often. Once we were seen it was just world class care.”

Anonymous · 4 months ago

About Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital

Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital runs a 24-hour accident and emergency department, open to all ages, on Haslingden Road in Blackburn, Lancashire, part of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust. It is a designated Trauma Unit, equipped to treat significant injuries and to stabilise the most serious cases before transfer to a regional Major Trauma Centre. The wider site runs 40 listed departments and services, from Acute Internal Medicine to Vascular surgery.

The Care Quality Commission rates it Good, last inspected in July 2023. It rated the hospital's urgent and emergency services Requires Improvement when they were last inspected in February 2019. The site lists 2,500 parking spaces, 108 of them designated disabled bays, with patient parking averaging £2.80 an hour.

Official NHS performance

62.5%seen within 4 hours
13,927attendances in September 2026
60.4%England average for major A&Es

NHS England publishes these figures for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust as a whole, covering every A&E the trust runs rather than this site alone. That is above the England average of 60.4% for major A&E departments over the same month.

In the NHS Friends and Family Test for August 2026, 69% of 1,667 patients who responded at this site reported a positive experience. The trust's general and acute wards averaged 97.4% overnight bed occupancy in the quarter to March 2026 - full wards are the main reason admitted patients queue in A&E.

Attendances by year

NHS yearA&E attendancesMonthly averageWithin 4 hours12hr+ waits to admit
2023-24142,46711,87263.5%12,903
2024-25155,29812,94265.1%13,060
2025-26163,07213,58966.0%12,747
2026-27 (6 months)84,59314,09966.2%5,483

Between 2023-24 and 2025-26, monthly A&E attendances rose 14% and the share seen within four hours improved by 2.5 percentage points.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check the current A&E wait time at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital?

The live waiting time for the A&E at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital is shown at the top of this page, together with when it was last updated. Times are reported by recent visitors and carry a community badge - after your own visit you can submit your wait time in a few seconds to help the next person.

When is the A&E at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital quietest?

Patterns vary by hospital, but across UK urgent and emergency care the quietest window is usually the early morning, roughly 4am to 7am, with demand building through the afternoon and peaking in the evening. Friday and Saturday nights and Monday mornings are typically the busiest periods. See our guide to the best time to visit for more detail.

How long will I wait at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital A&E?

Patients are triaged on arrival and the most urgent cases are always seen first, so your wait depends on how serious your condition is and how busy the department is. Hospitals in England work to the NHS four-hour standard - the aim is to admit, transfer or discharge patients within four hours of arrival. The live figure on this page shows how Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital is doing right now. NHS England's most recent figures (September 2026) show 62.5% of patients across the trust's A&E departments were seen within four hours.

How often are the waiting times on this page updated?

This page updates whenever a visitor submits a new wait time, so freshness depends on recent reports - each entry shows when that person visited. If you have been to Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital recently, submitting your wait takes a few seconds and helps others plan.

Is the A&E at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital open 24 hours?

Yes - the A&E at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. In a life-threatening emergency always call 999.

Where is Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital and how do I get there?

Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital is at Haslingden Road, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB2 3HH. For general enquiries call 01254 263555. Enter your postcode in the Getting here section for a door-to-door route.

Is parking free at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital?

No - patient and visitor parking here averages about £2.80 an hour (NHS estates return, 2024-25). The site lists 2,500 parking spaces, including 108 designated disabled bays. Concessions often apply for blue badge holders, frequent attenders and some patients - check the hospital's own parking page.

What is the CQC rating for Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital?

Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital is rated Good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care in England, following an inspection in July 2023. It rated the hospital's urgent and emergency services Requires Improvement when they were last inspected in February 2019. You can read the full CQC report.

Can children be treated at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital A&E?

This A&E serves: All ages. If your child's age group is not treated here, the nearby section on this page lists alternatives - or call NHS 111 for urgent advice and 999 in an emergency.

Is Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital a Major Trauma Centre?

No - Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital is a designated Trauma Unit. It treats significant injuries and stabilises the most complex cases before transfer to a regional Major Trauma Centre.
About this data
This hospital does not currently have a live data source. The waiting times shown here are reported by visitors and may not reflect current conditions. You can see how we source data for every hospital on our data sources page. Department labels shown (e.g. A&E, MIU, UTC) are our interpretation of the source data and may not match the hospital’s own terminology. If any information is incorrect, please let us know.
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