A HOSPITAL boss has personally apologised to the people of Worcestershire after a damning independent report into standards of care for the elderly.

Harry Turner, chairman of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said he would personally lead improvements at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, the subject of a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published yesterday.

Meanwhile, one senior member of the county health watchdog HOSC has called for the resignation of trust leaders.

We reported in yesterday’s Worcester News how there were “major” concerns about patient nutrition at the Alex. Some patients were left without food and water and served food when they were asleep.

Trays were not always placed within easy reach, putting them at risk of “poor nutrition and dehydration”.

Some patients were forced to eat with their fingers because there were no staff around to help them cut up their food. Mr Turner said: “My overwhelming thought and view is that I’m sorry, absolutely sorry that we have let people down. There’s no excuse. What happened on that day, in those two wards was unacceptable. I am genuinely sorry. I have made it clear that my agenda is about quality. This flies in the face of that.”

Moderate concerns were also raised about the privacy and dignity of patients, including confidential matters being discussed by staff in front of other patients and visitors.

Some staff were also said by inspectors to be “condescending” towards patients and spoke to them in a “disinterested” manner.

CQC inspectors were accompanied by an experienced nurse when they visited wards five and 11 of the Alexandra Hospital on Tuesday, March 22. They spoke to five patients, a visitor and eight members of staff and checked patient records.

Mr Turner denied the hospital needed more medical staff saying staffing levels were fine. He said formal action had been taken against those who were understood to be responsible for the failings identified by the CQC but declined to give further details. Mr Turner also said he had no issue with the CQC report. He said: “If one patient at one meal time isn’t treated properly from a nutritional point of view, that’s unacceptable.”

Mr Turner said unannounced visits to hospital wards would continue and he had already been on at least 30 such visits in the last four months across the county’s three hospitals, including Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester. He said: “Where we find someone who has a bad attitude and doesn’t live our values there will not be a place for them in our trust in future.”

Coun Fran Oborski, who sits on Worcestershire’s health overview and scrutiny committee, called for “heads to roll”.

She said: “I personally have no faith whatsoever in John Rostill (the trust’s chief executive) and his team. I believe that they have proved themselves unfit to provide healthcare services to our ageing population and should resign now.”

Steve Akers, Unison regional representative on health, said: “We, together with our colleagues on the staff side, will want to study the findings of the CQC report carefully as we are obviously concerned at what they have found.”

Professor David Green, vice-chancellor of the University of Worcester, said the CQC report highlighted the need for more well-trained nurses in the region, not fewer.

He pointed to a recent report pro-posing to cut the number of student nursing places in the West Midlands by 17.5 per cent from September and to reduce the number of professional staff by 7.26 per cent by 2014. “How can this be right?” he said.