A daughter was shocked to receive a 'flu vaccination saves lives' letter addressed to her mother who had died over 40 years ago.

Margaret Healey, of Westburn Avenue, Keighley, had the letter passed on to her by cousin Alan Midgley, who lives near her mother's old house in Kensington Street, Keighley.

The letter was sent by Kilmeny Surgery, in Ingrow, to her mother's old address, informing the late Mary Anne Midgley that she should act now and have a flu jab.

Mrs Midgley died on August 21, 1961, aged 51, of a heart attack and Mrs Healey was puzzled as to why her dead mother had been sent the letter.

Mrs Healey said: "How many more people are going to get letters to deceased family members? I laughed about it but it could have upset some people.

She added: "I wonder if they have reactivated the dead list and just how many dead people are taking up spaces other patients would like to take?"

The letter was sent on October 28 and Mrs Healey was quick to drop into the surgery to query the mistake. Mrs Healey said: "They were very apologetic. It's not Kilmeny's fault, they have inherited this from somewhere else."

Mark Clarkson, assistant practice manager at the surgery, said: "As soon as we found out about this we removed her name from our lists. As far as we had been aware the patient was on our records.

"We did apologise to the lady and sent her flowers. We have filled out an incident report sheet, which will be taken to the next practice managers meeting."

He said he had worked at the surgery since 1972 and explained what should have happened.

"Now we notify the health authority and they take the patient off the list and we send the records in," he said.

"The patient is taken off our books the same day they die and their records go back to the West Yorkshire Central Services agency as soon as they request them."

He added: "We have inherited Mrs Midgley from a previous doctor, Dr Prentice. When he retired in 1970, we took on his patients. He should have had this person taken off his list all those years ago."