THE story of the tragic death of Malvern's Eileen Layland illustrates how the National Health Service as an organisation can, on occasion, let people down.

Mrs Layland was admitted to the Worcester Royal Hospital for a hip replacement operation on March 16. When she was released eight days later, the convalescent bed she was to have been allocated at Howbury House Residential Home was needed for more urgent cases and, despite the concern expressed by her son, the 75-year-old had to be taken home.

From then on, her wound continued to weep until, on April 1, a Malvern social worker advised that she should be admitted to Howbury House. It was an appointment she was never to keep, as she went into a coma and died on April 13.

Is it right that an elderly lady should be sent home only a week after a major operation and to a home which had never been inspected to see whether she would be able to cope?

To what extent is this treatment the result of a need to push patients through hospital quickly in order to free up beds?

As her son Mark Layland says, it does seem ridiculous to spend NHS money on the operation only to waste it by handling the after-care so badly.

We regularly get letters praising the care people receive from nursing staff and doctors at the Worcester Royal Hospital and Mr Layland has no complaints about the care his mother received.

But there must be something wrong with an organisation which responds to Mr Layland's detailed letter of complaint by asking him for his dead mother's signature on a consent form.