ELDERLY people are at risk of going without food and water at a Worcestershire hospital, according to a damning report.

Inspectors with the national watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have raised “major” concerns about care at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch in a report published today.

The Alex is managed by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust – one of three trusts nationwide to have broken the law by failing to meet “essential standards”.

Inspectors visited the hospital on Tuesday, March 22, and observed care on wards five and 11.

They spoke to five patients, a visitor and eight members of staff and checked patient records.

The CQC ruled that the trust needed to improve the level of “respect” provided to patients and in meeting patient’s dietary needs. Among their major concerns about patients’ nutritional needs:

• Trays not being placed within easy reach of patients and food not always being presented in a way that enabled people to eat it independently.
• Patients using their hands to eat because staff were not available to cut up their food.
• Meals being served to people who were asleep or not sitting in the right position to eat.
• Nobody being routinely offered hand washing before or after meals.
• All patients on one ward being given a red tray (used to indicate a need for support with eating and drinking) making it impossible to identify those at highest risk.
• One person assessed as being ‘malnourished’ on admission, but their weight not recorded.
• Patients not adequately supported, making them at risk of poor nutrition and dehydration.

However, the report acknowledged that patients were ‘generally complimentary’ about their care and of the meals provided. Inspectors raised moderate concerns about privacy and dignity:

• Four occasions where staff talked to patients in a “disinterested manner” rather than engaging in conversation and where staff talked in a loud and condescending manner.
• One patient had no bell to call for assistance. Others had to wait for a response.
• Patients not offered wipes or hand washing after using a bedside bedpan.
• Confidential matters being discussed where they could be overheard.

Jill Loader’s 87-year-old father Edward Starkey, who has dementia, was cared for at the Alexandra Hospital for three months until he was moved to a nursing home in Stourport last month.

Mrs Loader, of Pickersleigh Road, Malvern, said: “I’m not surprised. I’m glad this report has come to light. The nurses started to feed the patients but were not encouraging them to eat. They weren’t listening to the patients and were taking their food away from them.”

The trust has to report back to the CQC within 14 days.

John Rostill, the trust’s chief executive, said he was “shocked” at the findings, but said that he had taken immediate action to recitfy the problems identified and reported that staff had responded positively to those improvements, including putting great emphasis on meal times.

“It was a surprise that two wards out of 34 on that day, at that time, demonstrated levels of service that were unacceptable. It was a shock.”

Mr Rostill has since made unannounced visits to the wards to check on progress.