PATIENTS and staff at a day hospital have been forced to cope without hot water for three weeks.

Bosses at the Royal Bolton say the issue at the on-site Minerva Day Hospital – which houses outpatient clinics including cardiology, urology and endocrinology – is due to a steam leak.

A Bolton resident, whose elderly mother is a regular patient at the hospital, said the situation was “appalling”.

The woman said she could not adequately clean her mother, who is in her eighties and is incontinent, because of the lack of hot water.

She said: “My mum is incontinent, and when she was there it was difficult to get her cleaned up properly because there was only cold water.

“When I asked staff I was told it was a fault so assumed it was a one off, but then I found out it had been like that for weeks and no one knew if it was going to be fixed. If staff cannot have hot water how are they able to disinfect properly and stop the spread of disease and infection?

“It is appalling. I cannot believe they have left the situation like this for so long – it is just not right and is awful to do that to people.”

The Bolton News understands hospital staff are concerned the cleanliness of the ward will not be adequate because only cold water is available.

Minerva Day Hospital runs some of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust’s outpatients services, along with Bolton One and the general outpatient clinic at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

In December, NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) approved a request from the trust to move outpatient services from the Minerva Day Hospital to Bolton One.

A spokesman for the trust said: “We have had an issue with water in Minerva Day Hospital which has been ongoing for three weeks, and which we are working to resolve. The lack of hot water has nothing to do with the outpatient departments moving – it has been caused by a steam leak.

“A containerised boiler chamber has been ordered and is expected to be delivered in the next week. This is a short term solution to get hot water running again. The trust’s estates department has been consulting with infection control to ensure safe care and make sure all procedures are in place.”