THE family of 88-year-old Catherine Hindle, of Cross Barn Grove, Darwen, said they did not feel their complaint had been dealt with properly by the hospital trust.

Mrs Hindle died at Royal Blackburn Hospital in January last year but sons Ian and Philip and daughter Ann Darby said they were not informed until seven hours later.

Ian said: “We didn’t get any satisfactory resolution or letter of apology.

“It was a complete waste of pen and ink. It made us wonder if they just throw all the complaints in the bin.

“There was never any follow-up, it was just brushed aside.”

Mr Hindle said he wasn’t shocked to hear the hospital had been placed into ‘special measures’.

He said: “It is not a surprise at all. It was totally shoddy from start to finish.

“And it doesn’t seem to be just an isolated incident when you keep reading about it in the papers.

“It is a bit worrying as you don’t have any choice on which hospital you go to.

“My wife had to be admitted last year and I could see all the same failings.

“They don’t seem to have enough staff, and some of the staff who are there probably shouldn’t be.”

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph shortly after Mrs Hindle’s death last year, daughter Ann Darby said: “My dad rang at 8am to see how she was and the woman just said, ‘She’s passed away’.

“We were distraught. The way we were informed of the death was appalling. She died at 1am.

“We don’t understand why hospital staff did not contact us.”

An inquest last March into the death of Mrs Hindle, who had 17 grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren and a great great grandson, found she died of pneumonia, COPD and ischemic heart disease.