A HYNDBURN councillor said the delay in treating her husband who was sent home on the morning he was due to have tumour removed should not be allowed to happen again.

Hospital bosses apologised to David Scaife, of Spring Street, Rishton, and blamed the busy winter period for the delay after he was sent home because there was no bed for him in intensive care.

David, 61, is now recovering in intensive care at Blackburn Royal Infirmary after a second appointment for surgery was kept and Ann, 58, ward councillor for Eachill, is looking forward to his return home.

Ann said it should not happen again and was planning to meet with Hyndburn MP Greg Pope.

She said: "When he is out of intensive care I plan to call Mr Pope to find out what can be done to prevent this happening again. The staff in intensive care have been fantastic and I am very grateful for what the hospital has done. Everyone else has been very supportive too.

"It is just a shame that leading up to it seemed to be full of minefields but this is proof that more needs to be done for the hospitals and this needs to be addressed by central government."

David, a driver with the transport department for Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn, was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in July last year.

He had two sessions of chemotherapy at The Christie Hospital, Manchester, to shrink the tumours and eliminate stray cancerous cells so that it could be safely removed surgically.

He was admitted to Blackburn Royal Infirmary three weeks ago and stayed in overnight in anticipation of the surgery but Mrs Scaife was furious when she received a call the next morning asking her to collect him because there was no bed for him.