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

The state of disrepair at Oxford Community Hospital was exposed in a report, which found vulnerable patients were being put at risk.

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

The case has been referred to Mr Johnson by Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, as pressure mounted on Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust to provide a new community hospital.

Mr Smith said: “The contents of this report are shocking. It is terrible to think of patients being exposed to such dangers.

“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 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.

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.

Dr Peter Skolar, chairman of the health overview scrutiny committee (HOSC), said: “It beggars belief. It is horrendous. Someone has fallen down badly on doing their job properly.”

Andrea Young, chief executive Oxfordshire PCT, said: “The PCT has commissioned an external review to look at the environment and maintenance of the OxComm facility prior to closure. The findings and recommendations will be shared with the HOSC and published.”