IN contrast to the months it took for hospital bosses to admit the errors and neglect that led to the death of 13-month-old Ethan Smith from meningitis after he was rushed to hospital in Blackburn on Christmas Day two years ago, NHS trust chief executive John Thomas's pledge today to deliver answers about his treatment is significantly much swifter.

This reaction comes after this newspaper's criticism of no-one being disciplined over this tragedy -- one which probably would not have occurred if baby Ethan, who was showing the classic symptom of meningitis, had been examined and diagnosed earlier -- and after we posed key questions.

It also follows pressure from East Lancashire MPs for an explanation -- one which is surely demanded by the disturbing circumstances of this child being left on a ward at Queen's Park Hospital without treatment four hours on end and by the dismissal by staff of his family's concern about his manifestly-worsening condition.

But, above all, answers are due to every parent in East Lancashire so that they may be reassured that such failings may never occur again and so that their confidence is sustained by them knowing that staff working for the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust are unmistakably aware that they are wholly accountable for how they perform their duties.

The questions we have raised are aimed at achieving this by having the truth told. We want to know why the children's unit failed to act on the symptoms noted by the doctor who saw Ethan first; why another doctor refused to test for meningitis when asked to by his family; why nurses dismissed the signs that he was worsening; and why no staff were disciplined.

That Mr Thomas now promises to write to Ethan's family with the answers to these questions is a step in the right direction.

But he must be aware that the entire community deserves answers. And those answers must full and frank if he is to reassure the people of East Lancashire that they can have faith in the children unit at Queen's Park.