THE family of a 22-month-old toddler forced to wait seven hours at Royal Blackburn Hospital have hit out at their treatment.

Little Chloe Bradshaw endured a wait to be seen on the children’s ward at the hospital, and then had to wait two-and-a-half hours at the pharmacy only to be told the cream prescribed for her skin condition was not available.

Mum Nicola Bradshaw took Chloe to the doctor’s in Colne last Monday morning, and they were advised to go to hospital, arriving with great-grandma Kathleen Shore, who is a Pendle councillor, at around 10.30am.

Coun Shore said: “It was ridiculous we had to wait so long. It’s unfair that 22-month-old children are having to spend seven hours in unfamiliar surroundings.

“She saw a couple of different people, which is unsettling for a young child. We then had to wait at the pharmacy. I asked several times what was going on and they eventually said one of the creams needed to be changed, so we had to wait for them to find a registrar and change that.

“Chloe was getting very agitated. She was given a sandwich for her dinner but that was it, it was awful.

“The doctors she saw were very nice, but it was the whole experience that was a problem.”

Coun Shore, Nicola and Chloe eventually left Royal Blackburn Hospital at around 6pm.

Vanessa Hollings, divisional general manager for family care at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are sorry that Chloe and Nicola had a longer than expected wait within the hospital.

“We have not been contacted by the family or had any issues raised with us, we would therefore encourage the family to raise any concerns directly with us in order for us to respond to them.”