PATIENT CARE PLUMMETS AT PRINCESS OF WALES

11.57.41am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 14th Sep 2007

A staffing crisis at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Ely is hitting patient care.

Local Liberal Democrats have been informed that some patients have been unable to have a bath or shower for days and others may be catheterised because there is not enough staff to take bed or chair bound patients to the toilet.

Lib Dem Health Spokesperson for Cambridgeshire, Geoff Heathcock, commented:

"Patients are suffering. It is unconscionable that patients are left to wet themselves in their bed because there are not enough staff to take patients to the toilet. I have been told about one case where the patient may now need to be catheterised because of this.

"Last summer the Primary Care Trust merged two wards at the Princess of Wales and since then staff have been severely outstretched. I'm very worried that the health trust is running down services with a view to closing the hospital.

"We need better funding not more cuts."

Jonathan Chatfield, Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for South East Cambridgeshire, added:

"The Princess of Wales is seriously understaffed and it is hitting patient care. Community hospitals, like the Princess of Wales, need proper funding so that they can provide the care that the people of Ely need."