Hospital that left patients lying in soiled sheets and shivering with cold is given a stark warning to improve by health watchdog

A hospital has been issued with a formal warning after it was found to be failing five out of six national standards - leaving patients at risk of a ‘lack of privacy, dignity and respect’.

Inspectors discovered Weston General Hospital, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, was operating with too few nurses - leaving patients vulnerable to dehydration, undignified treatment, and unnecessary delays.

The unannounced visit by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that patients were left on trolleys in the emergency department for hours and were ‘frozen’ in the middle of the night because of the lack of bedclothes.

James Bollen (pictured with wife, Susanne), 92, died at Weston General Hospital which has just been issued a formal warning by the Care Quality Commission. It was found to be failing five out of six national standards

It also found that patients were left lying in soiled sheets and that they were given treatments which required them to be indecent, without any privacy.

The inspectors also found a shortfall in nursing staff and that unsafe staffing levels were endangering patients.

The report concluded: ‘Overall we were concerned about the lack of privacy, dignity and respect.’

The regulator has issued two warning notices to Weston Area Health Trust following the inspection.

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The trust has until Tuesday to respond and show it will make necessary improvements.

The health regulator carried out the inspection in April to check whether improvements had been made after a previous visit in August.

Failings were found in all patient areas visited by inspectors.

Ian Biggs, regional director of the CQC, said: ‘When we last inspected Weston General Hospital we found that all too often, patients’ privacy and dignity were not properly respected - and it is a matter of concern that we have found the same failings in all of the patient areas we visited.

The visit by health watchdog the CQC revealed that patients at the hospital were left on trolleys in the emergency department for hours and were 'frozen' in the middle of the night because of the lack of bedclothes

‘We heard too many stories of people who weren’t getting the help they needed, or whose appeals for assistance went unanswered, and who were left humiliated or simply left to wait.

‘We were told how staff were overstretched, that assessments weren’t being made in time, records weren’t being kept properly and patients haven’t been receiving the care they need.

‘The trust has acknowledged it must recruit more nurses but patients in hospital today are entitled to be treated in services which are safe, effective, caring, well led, and responsive to their needs, and where a service is failing on any of these grounds, action is needed.’

The hospital scored in the lowest rated group in several areas of a recently published national inpatient survey.

The Department of Health’s medicines security review also identified concerns last year.

A survey of staff published in March found just 41 per cent would recommend relatives seek treatment there.

Inspectors visited five of the hospital’s wards, the accident and emergency department and the discharge lounge.

They spoke with patients, relatives, staff and senior trust management and looked at records.

CQC inspectors found that the hospital was operating without enough nurses - meaning that patients were having to wait too long for treatment

The report comes just days after a former NHS worker described the hospital as the worst she had encountered in 30-years after her father died there.

James Bollen, 92, died after contracting three illnesses during a four week stay at the hospital.

The pensioner had been admitted with norovirus but he contracted hospital pneumonia, septicaemia and boils.

His daughter, Jane Gill, also believes that while he was in the hospital he was deprived of both food and water.

Ms Gill has described the hospital as ‘filthy’, and said she had never seen such poor patient care, cleanliness or empathy from staff.

She added that her father looked like he had ‘come out of a concentration camp’ when he died.

Ms Gill said the hospital should be shut down to deal with the failures.

She said: ‘They should not just get a warning but they should shut it down until something has been done. If you keep it open more and more people are going to be sick.

‘I think it needs to be closed down by the CQC to get some of the problems at least rectified. A warning is not just enough.

Weston Area Health NHS Trust has been given until Tuesday to decide how it is going to address the problems at the hospital

‘It has happened to several people they are not learning from their mistakes. If you let them carry on more people will die.

‘How many people have to die before the place is shut?’

The cash-strapped Weston General Hospital is currently for sale as bosses struggle to deal with a £3.5 million deficit.

Following the CQC report, Weston Area Health NHS Trust said they had ‘acted quickly to review the quality of care in all wards’.

In a statement Nick Wood, the Trust’s Chief Executive, said: ‘Staff here were shocked by some of the findings of the CQC inspectors and we have taken immediate action to improve care.

‘While the hospital has been under intense pressure over the winter this is not an excuse for poor standards. We have taken decisive action to rectify the situation.

‘Weston is a safe hospital.

‘The CQC found no evidence of care that put patient safety at risk and we have one of the best records on patient mortality in the country.

‘Although disappointing, we are grateful to the CQC for highlighting areas where we need to concentrate efforts.

‘We are all determined to raise standards.’