A PATIENT who plagued medical staff with phone calls has won an appeal to have an interim anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) against her lifted.

Susan Hills, 42, of Park Lane, Guisborough, east Cleveland, was banned from visiting health centres throughout the area after she repeatedly called medical centres run by Langbaurgh Primary Care Trust (PCT).

An application for a full Asbo was to be made after a Teesside District Judge had refused a request to overturn the interim Asbo in December.

Miss Hills since won an appeal to have the interim order lifted.

The interim Asbo is believed to be the first in the country made against a patient by a health organisation.

The order banned Miss Hills from making more than five calls a day to Langbaurgh PCT, the minor injuries unit or the out-of-hours service at Brotton.

She was also banned from going to any healthcare provider in the Langbaurgh area without an appointment unless it was a genuine emergency.

Miss Hills, who was a nursery worker until six years ago, said she had now been diagnosed by Liverpool specialists with a rare genetic condition called neuroacanthocytosis, a neurological disorder that causes swallowing and speech problems and abnormal movements.

Speaking at court in December, her solicitor, Andrew Turton, said doctors thought she was suffering from a degenerate organic disease, which would explain compulsive behaviour.

A spokesperson from the trust said: "Since the proceedings, there has been a marked improvement in Miss Hills' behaviour, and this interim Asbo is no longer active.

"If her behaviour changes for the worse in the future, we will review this situation as one of our options.

"The trust has a duty to protect its staff and patients, and this is a position that was supported by District Judge Walker when he made the interim Asbo last November."