Patients in 31 new Midlands hospital care claims

Nine of the claims are against Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, one involves Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital, and 21 are new allegations against scandal-hit Stafford.

The cases are being handled by Leigh Day solicitors, which says the scale of the complaints is "truly shocking".

The firm, which represented 120 victims of the Stafford failures, has revealed a flood of claims following the publication of the report by Robert Francis QC into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Seven out of 10 of the claims are from pensioners.

Across the country, 28 hospitals have claims of neglect against them involving 116 people. In one case the daughter of an elderly man says that her father's time in hospital left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, usually associated with solders returning from war zones.

Leigh Day lawyer Emma Jones said: "The scale of the complaints is truly shocking. What is particularly worrying is that the same issues keep coming up.

"These issues include people, mostly elderly, going without food or water, being left to sit in their own waste, and general lack of care and attention by those paid to care.

"We believe there are many more people who suffered at these Midlands hospitals, and if the recommendations by Robert Francis QC are not implemented, we fear there may be many more."

The Francis Inquiry published its findings into the Mid Staffordshire last month, four years after the Healthcare Commission lifted the lid on abuse at Stafford.

As many as 1,200 patients are estimated to have died unnecessarily at the hospital between 2005 and 2008 due to the "appalling" standards of care provided.

Today, Maggie Oldham, deputy chief executive at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, said of the fresh claims: "Like all NHS hospital trusts, we have cover for these claims through the NHS Litigation Authority."

Bosses from Russells Hall were unavailable for comment.