NHS hospitals are getting dirtier despite Labour's promises, claim patients

Standards of cleanliness in hospitals are falling despite Labour Government promises to tackle dirty wards, a survey showed yesterday. The annual NHS patients' survey found high levels of general satisfaction with the health service. However, when more specific questions were asked of the 80,000 people who took part a different picture emerged.

Only 52 per cent of the patients said their ward had been "very clean" last year compared with 56 per cent in 2002.

Less than half - 46 per cent - described lavatories as "very clean" compared with 51 per cent three years before.

Nearly 40 per cent of patients who needed help with eating meals did not get it and nearly one in five said they never received any help.

Only 60 per cent felt there were "always" or "nearly always" enough nurses on duty.

Little progress had been made on hospital food, with 54 per cent saying it was good or very good, a third saying it was fair and 15 per cent saying it was poor. This was similar to responses given previously.

With patients spending less time recovering in hospital after surgery, another area that worried patients was the lack of information they received before they were discharged.

Two fifths received no information about side effects of their drugs, 40 per cent were given no information about "danger signals" after surgery and a quarter were given no contact number in case they were worried on their return home.

In accident and emergency departments a quarter, compared with a third three years before, waited more than four hours before being found a bed.

But most, 92 per cent, rated overall care as "excellent", "very good" or "good" and 80 per cent said they had been treated with dignity.

Anna Walker, the chief executive of the Labour Government watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, which commissioned the survey, said hospital staff should be heartened by the fact that patients rated their care so highly.

She added: "However, patients are still sending a clear message that there is more work to do. Providing patients with the right information, in the right format and at the right time is crucial to their treatment and recovery, yet so many tell us that they are not receiving this.''

A spokesman for the Patients Association said the findings on cleanliness came as no surprise. "It echoes what we have been hearing from staff, that cleaning services are being cut, cut, cut," she said. "When trusts face deficits they always cut from the bottom. Porters and cleaners are the first to go."

On the question of poor information she said: "The NHS has got to learn it can't fob patients off with petty, handmade leaflets.

"We know patients are spending less and less time in hospital so community services have to be in place when they are discharged. But this does not happen. Patients need to know what to expect. They need to know about the healing process and what to expect in one week, two weeks and in the longer term.''

Dr Gill Morgan, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation which represents more than 90 per cent of NHS organisations, said: "Cleanliness is clearly an issue of concern for many of the patients surveyed.

''This is an area that trusts are very aware of and are therefore working hard to ensure that first rate cleanliness and infection control is achieved."

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