Probe into standard of care at Whitchurch hospital

It comes after a carer at the hospital said patients had been left without water and waited hours for dirty bedding to be changed.

The man, who does not want to be named, also said confused and wandering patients had access to a variety of drugs which were left unattended.

Today Julia Bridgewater, interim chief executive of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, said an investigation had been launched into the complaint and said safe care and patient dignity was the top priority.

The carer made the complaint after witnessing "shocking" standards of care over one weekend.

He said: "I was truly shocked at what I saw happening. When I started my shift at 7.30am I noticed a patient had wet the bed and needed changing, which requires two members of staff.

"I asked for help many times but was told everyone was too busy. Two hours later I asked again only to find everyone on their coffee break only two hours after they started.

"I'm not against people having their breaks but patient care should be the top priority."

The whistle-blower said: "I saw patients being left for hours without water. Nursing staff would leave drug trolleys unsupervised and open in an area where there are confused and wandering patients. Medication was given hours late."

"Meals were left out of reach of patients so when they finally got them they were cold.

"And two nurses manually handled a patient out of bed when a hoist should have been used. Not even the toilets were cleaned properly."

The carer, who has completed numerous shifts at the hospital, said: "All I can hope is this practice isn't kept up all the time and it was just a bad weekend. The care really was poor and I'd imagine this is because of staffing budgets and constant use of agency staff."

Ms Bridgewater said: "Providing patients with safe care and treating them with dignity, respect and compassion should be the top priority.

"There are many ways in which the quality of our services are checked and reviewed. These include independent external inspections, as well as formal and informal internal reviews. We also have clear and transparent mechanisms for staff to raise concerns, in an environment which encourages openness and honesty.

"Clearly it is of concern when a member of staff raises issues like these and we have already started to look at the specific points highlighted."