AN elderly woman was forced to wait at a neighbour's home in just a nightdress after hospital staff failed to contact her family to say she was being taken home.

Irene Willis, 85, of Ching Way, Chingford, was released from Whipps Cross University Hospital on May 12 following a two-week stay for treatment for a torn ligament in her shoulder.

But after a message was left for her family on an answering machine, she says no further attempt was made to get in touch and she left hospital in an ambulance without her clothes and without her house keys.

"It was terrible," said Mrs Willis, who lives with her son, Robert, 59, a cab driver and her daughter, Christine, 57, who works at Tesco.

"I don't know what would have happened if my neighbour hadn't been in - they couldn't have taken me back to hospital."

Mrs Willis, who also suffers from an ulcer and heart trouble, was initially told by staff that she needed to be ready to leave by 9am and said she told a nurse to make sure someone was at home.

But she did not leave the hospital until later that afternoon and arrived home to discover no one was there.

"I went up to the hospital to bring her home but they'd already sent her away," her daughter, Christine Willis, added.

"The ambulance man phoned to ask where I was because he was waiting to get in. She ended up being left with a neighbour in just her night clothes, with no shoes - it was really humiliating for her."

Miss Willis now plans to make a complaint to the hospital about her mother's treatment.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said: "Whipps Cross University Hospital is sorry that the process of discharging Mrs Willis was not of the standard we expect.

"While attempts and messages were made by ward staff to contact Mrs Willis’ family, more should have been done to ensure her discharge was seamless.

"The Trust would like to apologise to Mrs Willis and her family and assure her that a full investigation into the circumstances of her discharge has started."