ATTENDANCE at East Lancashire's A&E departments has rocketed by 20,000 people in the last six years, figures show.

The increase from 118,582 to 138,690 has been blamed on patients who do not need to be seen at A&E turning up for treatment.

The news came as it was revealed that bosses are still struggling to meet a key target to get patients seen quickly at emergency departments.

March was East Lancashire Hospital's NHS Trust's worst month since the tough target, to get 98per cent of patients seen in four hours, was introduced.

Only 95.9 per cent were seen in this time, a figure which rose just 0.5 per cent to 96.4 per cent for April.

Blackburn will take on more Burnley emergencies under major changes to take effect by 2009. And the news comes after two trust bosses said "significant" pressures were hitting Blackburn Royal Infirmary's A&E.

John Amos, chairman of the Patient and Public Involvement Forum which oversees the trust, said: "You can't blame the hospitals because they are being so over-stretched with work they were not designed to do in the first place. It is unrealistic to get to the target."

Doctors no longer have to work outside of daytime hours and alternative arrangements were confusing people, he said.

Meanwhile, Anne Asher, divisional director for medicine at the trust, said: "We still have a long way to go to deliver sustained performance at this level.

"The trust is doing everything it can to enable patients to be treated as quickly as possible."

She said part of the problem was people turning up at A&E when they didn't require emergency treatment.