The family of a grandmother who died in a layby returning from out of area NHS care have hit out after learning older patients are still being sent miles from home for treatment.

Nick Fulcher's mother-in-law Peggy Copeman died a lonely death in the back of an ambulance on an M11 hard shoulder while being brought back to Norfolk in 2019. She was 81.

She had been sent to Cygnet Hospital in Taunton, Somerset, for treatment by the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

She was being transferred to Julian Hosptial in Norwich when she died.

Eastern Daily Press: Peggy CopemanPeggy Copeman (Image: Fulcher family)

At an inquest into her death, held in 2021, NSFT officials vowed to her bereaved family that they would do all they could to prevent older patients being sent away from the region for treatment.

But new figures have revealed that just months after this pledge a Norfolk woman in her 70s was treated in a hospital in Warrington, where she was placed for 159 days.

Mr Fulcher - now a public governor at NSFT - said: "After our dear Peggy died, NSFT promised us as a family that what happened to her would never happen again.

"We were assured that no elderly people would be unnecessarily sent away from their loved ones for care again. It is absolutely disgusting."

The woman treated in Warrington was one of 58 patients sent to psychiatric intensive care units across the country while the Rollesby ward in Hellesdon Hospital was closed for renovations.

Alex Lewis, chief medical officer of NSFT, said: "We are committed to working closely with families and carers and would encourage anyone who wishes to discuss their loved ones to contact us directly.

"We are unable to comment on individual cases, however, we would stress that out of area placements can happen for a variety of reasons, including at the patient's request if they wish to be close to family who live further afield or because they were away from home at the time of their admission."