HEALTH Secretary Alan Johnson has been asked to investigate the “shameful” conditions that elderly patients were forced to endure at an Oxford hospital.

The state of disrepair at Oxford Community Hospital was exposed in a report that found patients were put at risk.

The inspection was carried out shortly before the 24-bed hospital at the Churchill Hospital was shut down in May last year following a third outbreak of bacteria Clostridium difficile in six months.

The case has been referred to Mr Johnson by Oxford East MP Andrew Smith. It comes at a time when pressure is mounting on Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust to provide a new community hospital for the city’s elderly.

Mr Smith said: “The contents of this report are shocking. It is terrible to think of patients being exposed to such dangers. I have written to the Secretary of State for Health and the Oxfordshire PCT asking for a full investigation.

“I have said in my letter that this also underlines the importance and urgency of getting a new proper quality NHS community hospital with sufficient beds, conveniently located in Oxford, to meet the need for community care, especially of elderly people.”

The risks that elderly patients were being exposed to were discovered when the Health Protection Agency sent in inspectors just days before the hospital was shut and declared unfit for purpose by the county’s director of public health. But the report only came to light following a Freedom of Information Act request by Green county councillor Larry Sanders.

Inspectors found that the fabric of the building was in a poor state of repair, with repairs incomplete. Floors, walls, ceilings, windows, fixtures and fittings were not intact, paint was peeling and skirting was missing.

They found that “inappropriate storage impeded cleaning”; some equipment used for patients was damaged and stored on the floor; and the kitchen fridge was found to be leaking, with cutlery left to soak in a container of water.

Bed-spacing appeared not to meet recommended guidance, while good hand-washing practices were inhibited by the fact basins were not lever-operated.

The report, which has now been presented to Oxfordshire’s joint health overview and scrutiny committee, said “poor practices” had led to a “preventable risk to vulnerable patients” and concluded: “The lack of routine and subsequent poor maintenance has led to deterioration of the building, fixtures and fittings. This is not only an aesthetically unpleasant environment but also an environment that does not support cleaning or good practice.”

Councillor Liz Brighouse said: “We have world-class facilities in Oxford, yet a ward for elderly people at the end of their lives was in this condition. It is shameful. I know of one elderly person who signed herself out of the hospital because it was so appalling.”

The report led to renewed calls for the PCT to rethink its plans to find a new building in the city to house a community hospital offering just 20 beds. Ms Brighouse added: “Community hospitals in towns like Witney have 60 beds. Given Oxford’s large elderly population, 20 beds is not enough.”

Dr Peter Skolar, chairman of the health scrutiny committee, said he had been “gobsmacked” by the findings, adding: “I want to find out why a councillor had to use the Freedom of Information Act to find out about this report. We need to find out if somebody has been sitting on it for a year. As chairman I had certainly not seen it.

“The report said there was a lack of routine maintenance and the hospital was in a despicable condition. It beggars belief. It is horrendous. Someone has fallen down badly on doing their job properly.”

The PCT yesterday ordered its own review into what happened at the community hospital. Andrea Young, chief executive of the PCT, said: “The review will be led by an external consultant and it is anticipated it will take four weeks to complete. The findings and recommendations will be shared with the health scrutiny committee and published on the PCT’s website.”