A hospital patient says the ward she was on in Colchester General Hospital was so cold that people were lying in bed with their dressing gowns on.

Debra Parrott, 45, of Homefield Road, Colchester, stayed in Great Bentley Ward while waiting to have a tumour removed from her ear.

She was very cold, she said, and initially put it down to being frightened about having the operation.

But Mrs Parrott said: "The radiators were stone cold and there were windows that were open."

Her mum, Pamela Claydon, said: "There was no heating whatsoever on that ward. People were in bed with their dressing gowns on."

A spokesman for Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Colchester General Hospital, said a complaint had been made about the temperature on Great Bentley Ward.

"We called in estates staff to check the temperature, which was found to be at a satisfactory level," he said.

"There is a possibility that the doors at one end of the ward that lead on to a corridor may have been temporarily and inadvertently left open, causing the temperature to drop for a short period of time," he added.

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Published Friday, December 24, 2004

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