MUM Debra Sanderson is rightly angry that she had to buy ice to treat her son’s broken ankle while he was a patient at Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Mrs Sanderson was told by doctors the ice was needed to reduce her son’s heavily swollen ankle before it could be operated on.

But she said nurses on his ward told her their ice machines were broken.

Following the incident, the hospital trust has said Royal Blackburn has a number of ice machines but unfortunately their availability was “not been made clear to the patient and his family”.

This suggests a lack of communication at the hospital, with staff clearly unaware where they could go to get extra ice elsewhere in the building. In turn the wrong information was passed on to Mrs Sanderson, who was desperate to do the right thing for her son.

Unfortunately for the Sanderson family this situation went on for five days.

In fact, it only came to an end when they complained to their MP Gordon Birtwistle who sent an email to the hospital trust on their behalf.

Lessons need to be learnt from incidents such as this.

Clearly this family were prepared to make a fuss, but some patients don’t have someone to stand up for them, and we need to be sure they are getting the best service possible.