Standards, a lack of care and rude staff were among the complaints investigated by Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital, it emerged today.

The claims include patients being left in pain, sitting in wet or dirty beds and not being given vital medicines.

Others include a lack of care by nurses, poor attitude of doctors and delays in being treated. Some complaints included diabetic patients not having their blood sugar monitored, while in other cases, elderly patients suffered falls but family members were not informed.

In one case a patient told how they were left without pain relief and a call bell was unanswered.

Another patient was sent home from A&E untreated and had to go to another hospital. One appointment was cancelled without notice, and bad news was delivered over the phone.

In total there were 66 formal complaints to The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust between October and December 2010. Of these, the hospital failed to hit a 25-day target to investigate in 10 instances.

General care led to 19 complaints compared to 16 about clinical treatment standards. There were also nine about staff attitude, six about communication, five each for delays and diagnosis and two for the way the patient was discharged.

There was also one complaint each for access, cancellations, information and medication problems.

Four complaints were referred to the Health Service Ombudsman, with two being upheld.

There were 25 informal complaints given to the hospital’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service as well as 171 queries. This compared to 106 formal complaints and 41 informal complaints for the same period in 2009.

Trust chief executive David Loughton said: “Excellent patient care and treatment is at the heart of everything we do, however, we recognise that on occasions we do not get things completely right.” He added that all complaints were investigated, with the information being used to help improve services.