HOSPITAL patients are being urged to look after their belongings after a pensioner's bag was swiped from her bedside.

The 69-yearwoman had her bag taken during from a ward while she was at the hospital church. Containing only £12, it was the handful of irreplaceable family photos that has devastated her, says her daughter.

Jane Lee, aged 37, of Whiston, was horrified to discover that anyone could access her mum's ward outside of visiting hours.

Miss Lee has complained to Warrington Hospital and written to the chief executive Ian Dalton asking why Warrington fails to have locked ward doors with a buzzer visitors must ring to enter. She says this happens in Whiston, which ensures that nurses know who is in the ward outside of visiting hours.

Anna Alexander, the Trust's deputy director of nursing, said: "We also understand the distress and upset lost belongings can cause and always encourage patients to ensure they are handed in for safe-keeping or given to family and friends.

"The Trust strikes a balance between ensuring the safety and security of staff, patients and visitors, and the need to ensure people can gain access to our facilities.

"For instance, in an emergency situation it would not be practical for a doctor to have to negotiate a series of locked doors to reach a patient."

A spokesman added: "Warrington Hospital's main entrance and other external doors are locked each night and a team of three security personnel are on duty 24-hours a day.

"Entrances to the maternity, children, neonatal and intensive care wards are locked with a buzzer entry system. However, extending this to every ward in the Hospital would be impractical to manage."