A GRANDAD claims he saw bed pans left out for days during a stay on a ‘dirty’ ward at Royal Bolton Hospital.

Clifford Greenhalgh also said floors were not cleaned and there were delays getting help due to understaffing at the hospital.

The 57-year-old, from Bolton, was staying in a room on C4 ward, which covers complex care and stroke patients, for 10 days.

But he does not blame the nurses for the problems.

He believes low staffing levels resulted in dirty conditions and difficulties dealing with patient demand.

He said: “It is not the staff, the nurses were very good but they are really short staffed.

“The ward was just generally dirty, the floors were dirty and it seemed to be a struggle for staff. I’m in and out of hospital a lot because of my health and this is the worst condition I have seen the hospital in.

“There were bed pans left out with stuff in them for about two days or more. When they were cleared it just built up again.”

Mr Clifford, who was previously diagnosed with a blood clot on the brain, was admitted to hospital after suffering from severe headaches. Following a stay in D2 ward, where he says conditions were fine, he was moved onto C4. and was discharged on December 7.As well as bed pans being left out in the ward,But But the grandad-of-one claims he experienced long delays waiting for help and had to clean himself.

He added: “I wouldn’t have wanted my granddaughter visiting me in those conditions. I’m angry at the hospital not at the staff. The level of under-staffing is unbelievable.” If you’re short staffed it’s the patients who suffer while the nurses are left working long hours. It is not good for anybody.”

Royal Bolton Hospital admitted facing staffing issues and, to tackle the short-fall, had recruited from the 75 nurses from the Philippines who will start in Bolton in the Spring.

It says that from November 1 to 30, on average, it was missing one nurse per shift.

A spokesman for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said: “We’re sorry to hear of the issues raised by this gentleman which are being looked into by a senior member of staff. We encourage any patient who has concerns to raise them with us. On the day in question, Our nursing team was slightly reduced but we increased the number of health care assistant shifts to give additional support.

“We use our nursing staff flexibly across wards as needed and support qualified nurses with our own bank staff and some agency staff, to provide staffing levels that are safe for patient care.”

Marie Forshaw, deputy director of nursing, added: “We want to recruit more staff but, although we have the funding for these vacant posts, in common with hospitals throughout the country we have had difficulty recruiting.

“We have been undertaking a rigorous recruitment campaign for some time, both at home and abroad.”

“Meanwhile we work hard to see that staffing levels are safe for patient care.”