By Rebecca SheppardA PENSIONER has criticised the standards of hygiene at a hospital and said she feared it was putting patients' health at risk.Pat Nevardwas so disgusted with the state of Ipswich Hospital when her husband John was admitted with respiratory problems that she left stickers to alert the cleaners to problem areas.

By Rebecca Sheppard

A PENSIONER has criticised the standards of hygiene at a hospital and said she feared it was putting patients' health at risk.

Pat Nevardwas so disgusted with the state of Ipswich Hospital when her husband John was admitted with respiratory problems that she left stickers to alert the cleaners to problem areas.

She said there were "big dollops" of blood in the corridor leading to her husband's ward and claimed to have been told that cleaning staff were not available at the weekend to clean it up despite her repeated complaints.

Mrs Nevard, 66, said: "No wonder MRSA is rife in hospitals - it's all down to hygiene.

"It's putting everybody's lives at risk, not just my husband's. You go in there with one thing and if you come out, then you're lucky if you do not pick up anything else. It's very, very scary."

She added: "The treatment was superb, the nurses were superb and the food was good, but I felt the hygiene throughout the hospital was awful.

"It's all down to cost. I watched a girl clean the ward and she went right down the middle and I just shook my head."

Mr Nevard, 75, was admitted to Ipswich Hospital on July 16 and his wife said she had seen blood in the main corridor leading to his ward when visiting him the following morning.

Mrs Nevard added she had reported it, but when she went back through the corridor after visiting her husband the blood was still there, so she reported it again and was told that it had been logged on the computer.

However, she said it had still not been cleaned up when she returned in the afternoon.

Mrs Nevard claimed that, on reporting it for the third time, she was told that the cleaners were not at the hospital on a Saturday.

She said: "I rang up the complaints, but I did not use my correct name. I said that it was soiled, definitely with blood, and I was informed that the cleaning staff do not work at weekends.

"When I went back on Sunday morning it was still there and had not been cleaned, so I came back with sticky labels and put the time and date that I had reported it was dirty and un-smiley faces."

Jan Rowsell, spokeswoman for Ipswich Hospital, insisted there were cleaners available 24 hours a day, even at weekends.

She added: "We do take cleanliness extremely seriously and we do have cleaning staff available 24/7 and that includes weekends.

"We really would urge people if they see something wrong to let us know immediately and we will take action."

rebecca.sheppard@eadt.co.uk