WARRINGTON Hospital chiefs have slammed The Sun over their headlines regarding nurses 'getting high' on a thank you cake.

The newspaper had reported nurses were left 'off their faces' when a patient's elderly relative accidentally gave them a cake laced with cannabis as a 'thank you'.

They claimed staff ate the red velvet cake and were reportedly left feeling 'relaxed' by the drugs it was spiked with. 

A message from chief nurse Kimberley Salmon-Jamieson said: "We are extremely concerned about the irresponsible reporting of this incident in ‘The Sun’ and other media and advise all patients, staff and members of the public to take this sensationalist reporting with the proverbial ‘pinch of salt’; we will be pursuing retractions and formal apologies for the distress caused to our staff, patients and their families.”

A Facebook post from the hospital also clarified further details surrounding the incident.

It said a visitor brought in some birthday cake from their relative’s 18th birthday which was offered to our staff as a ‘thank you’ for the excellent care that a patient had received on May 27 this year.

The visitor was completely unaware that there was cannabis in the cake.

A spokesman added: "Only one member of staff ate a small piece of cake, did not suffer any ill effects, did not care for any patients afterwards and finished their shift.

"On noticing a strange odour from the cake senior staff notified Cheshire Police who removed and subsequently destroyed the cake.

"The Trust activated its usual incident investigation process and interviewed all staff concerned; only one member of staff ate the cake, no-one came to any harm and no patients ate the cake.

"We are now working with staff to exercise caution on receiving edible gifts.

"To confirm, there were no issues that compromised patient care during the shift relating to the consuming of the cake."

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A Cheshire Police spokesman said: "Officers received a report on Monday 27 May that a cake which was suspected to contain drugs had been brought into Warrington Hospital by a member of the public and given to staff.

"Following an investigation officers determined that the member of the public who had brought in the cake was unaware of the content of the cake as it had been left over from their grandson’s birthday party.

"Officers have now spoken to all parties involved and given some strong words of advice.

"The case has now been closed and the cake has been destroyed."