A former hospital chaplain has described conditions at Basildon Hospital surgical assessment unit as "appalling" after visiting an elderly friend.

Rev Grace Swift, an ex-nurse, of Church Street, Great Burstead, said she saw an uncovered, used commode, an incontinence pad over a chair and cutlery caked in dried food.

A hospital spokesman said the unit had scored 90 per cent in a recent infection control audit.

Published Tuesday, January 7, 2003

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