THE family of a pensioner whose broken neck allegedly went undiagnosed for ten days has lodged a third complaint against Colchester’s hospitals trust.

Alice Boyce, 83, of Kirby Cross, spent an agonising 14 hours face down in her garden in the cold after a fall in January.

Her family complained about Colchester General Hospital, where she was initially treated, for the time it allegedly took to realise the severity of her injury.

They launched a fresh complaint in April after Alice was transferred to Clacton Hospital and suffered another fall. Alice’s son, James Boyce, wrote an eight-page letter of complaint to hospital bosses.

He nowclaims hismumsuffered a third fall on August 27 after returning to Colchester General and says previous complaints have not been resolved.

Mr Boyce said the family receivedacall to tell them Alice had rolled out of bed, but was okay and comfortable.

“Upon arriving later that day, my sister found mum had severe facial bruising with a large cut above her right eye, pain in her side, neckand shoulder, and after speaking with the consultants it was decided mum should be placed in a neck brace as she may have broken her neck again,” he said.

Mr Boyce says it is still unclear if his mum has broken her neck or any other bones, but claims she is “clearly in insufferable pain”.

He has written a formal complaint letter to the NHS.

A spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust said: “A full investigation will be carried out, at the end of which we will write to Mr Boyce with our findings.”