I AM anxious to hear from other people over 50 who have had a similar experience to myself and my family with the NHS. I believe my mother was treated like a second-class patient because of her age.

In July, 1997, my mother Eileen Webster, aged 66, contracted a super bug while in the North Middlesex Hospital. Her eyelid and cheek became blistered and infected and we were told that this was just an adverse reaction to chemotherapy.

She was discharged in August, but later it was decided that urgent radiotherapy was needed. Because the hospital misplaced my mother's file, this urgent treatment did not begin until October.

By November, it became clear that the treatment was having no effect and doctors believed her condition to be terminal, although we were never told this.

By this point, my mother had partially lost the sight in her right eye and her upper and lower eyelid was also badly infected by the super bug. She had become partially deaf and had developed septicaemia.

In January, 1998, she was admitted to hospital for a blood transfusion. Ten days later she died, incontinent, paralysed and ridden with bedsores.

I am launching a campaign, called Action for Eileen, which is aimed at preventing what happened to my mother happening to others of her age.

Information from families who have had similar experiences would be useful.

LISA MACMURDIE, Action for Eileen, 143 Albany Park Avenue, Enfield, Middlesex, EN3 5NY