SICK pensioners are being stripped of their dignity and left in appalling conditions in a Worcester hospital, it has been claimed.

Our city's elderly are left to sit in their own excrement, not given enough help to properly finish their meals and left to sit on commodes for up to an hour waiting for help, according to relatives of patients at Newtown Hospital.

The claims that limited staff can't cope with patients' basic needs come in the same week the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust's Board discussed the possibility of shutting two wards after an outbreak of the superbug clostridium difficile.

The angry daughters of the two women patients - both in their 80s - say what appear to be major staff shortages are leading to the unacceptable neglect, and the hospital seems to be a tragic dumping ground for the elderly.

Beverly Abbs' 87-year-old mother Mavis Stevenson has just left Maple ward and returned to Regent House Residential Home, St John's, after a fall.

She said: "Maple ward must be one of the most miserable places for an elderly person to end up. When I visited my mum she was sitting in excrement, having been to the toilet in her chair. The second time I saw her she came back from the toilet with the mess round her legs and we waited almost three-quarters of an hour before anyone came to assist.

"There was also a patient who had trouble feeding. A member of staff started to help her but was called away. Eventually the trolley came along and the food cleared away. The patient had only eaten some of her meal.

"The staff are doing a great job but there just aren't enough of them to go around."

Mrs Abbs said her mother now had an infection in the leg which had been covered in excrement, and was on antibiotics. Brenda Milward said she visited her 81-year-old mum Joyce Lane every day and has witnessed shocking conditions.

Mrs Lane was admitted with a broken hip three weeks ago but her condition has deteriorated so she can't return to her Malvern residential home.

Mrs Milward, of McIntyre Road, St John's, has made a complaint to the hospital. She said: "I am so angry. My mum is confused anyway and is just left lying there, or sat in a chair if she's lucky.

"She is just being left to waste away and is given no encouragement. It is ridiculous, they don't even know how to use a hoist, my mum was left swaying and frightened while they worked it out.

"It is not the staff's fault but the patients have no dignity or respect. I just feel so sorry for anyone in there who doesn't have relatives to fight their corner."

City MP Mike Foster said if the claims were true, the situation was unacceptable.

He added: "I would ask any residents who are concerned about themselves or their relatives to get in touch with me as soon a possible and I will promise to take up any issues with the hospital immediately."

The news comes after NHS bosses announced sweeping reforms and £250,000 investment in the ailing hospital in June this year, following scathing criticism from patients, relatives and staff.

Trust chief executive John Rostill confirmed they had received a complaint about Mrs Stevenson and would investigate. He added: "The situation is quite clear - under the NHS complaints procedure we have 20 days in which to respond which gives us an opportunity to conduct an investigation.

"This is what we will do in this case and respond to the relatives in that time-scale."

WHAT WORCESTERSHIRE ACUTE HOSPITALS NHS TRUST SAID:

Speaking after a trust board meeting yesterday, director of nursing Rachel Overfield said they intended to deep-clean Maple and Cedar wards.

However, she said there were problems with where the patients would be moved to within the hospital but denied that the wards were short-staffed.

She stressed: "This is not to say these wards aren't properly cleaned all the time anyway.

"We don't have any major concerns about the cleanliness of these wards but there are issues about the fabric of the building and that's one of the reasons why we're trying to shut it."

In response to claims patients had to wait nearly an hour to use the toilet, medical director Dr Charles Ashton said patients did wait a period of time for a nurse to take them to the toilet.

He added: "That is not to suggest that there is ever any shortage of toilets there."