A SUSPECTED gallbladder inflammation led to Pendle's MP being admitted to hospital on Christmas Day.

Andrew Stephenson was admitted to the Royal Blackburn Hospital from his home in Colne in the early hours, suffering from severe abdominal pains.

Doctors initially thought the Pendle MP may have had pancreatitis or gastritis – but it later emerged he has cholecystitis, swelling of the gallbladder.

The Conservative politician, who has now been discharged, has praised NHS staff for looking after him over the Christmas period.

He said in a Facebook post: “My huge thanks and gratitude to the wonderful NHS paramedics, doctors and nurses who were all working over the Christmas period and looked after me and the other patients in A&E and on the surgical ward so well.”

Mr Stephenson said his condition meant he had been unable to see first-hand the serious flooding problems which had affected his borough and the rest of East Lancashire.

But he added: “It has been heartening to see how residents have pulled together during this difficult period. I have also been kept updated by the Environment Agency, Electricity North West and other bodies and have been forwarding residents’ problems on to relevant agencies.”

The MP is now recuperating at his parents’ home but hopes to return to frontline politics early in the New Year.