"Upsetting lack of care in North Tees"

My friend, a retired frail lady who never married, broke her right arm and leg in a fall and was hospitalised.

I visited her in the North Tees Hospital and found her distraught. She eventaully found the courage to tell me what had happened once she was home and I want to share it with you.

She wanted to go to the toilet in the night and rang her bell several times to no avail. A kind patient in the opposite bed got up and went along the corridor to ask the "nurses" to come. They said they would and didn't. My dear friend then tried to get to the toilet herself. Yes, she collapsed at the foot of her bed and wet herself.

To add to the shame and sick pain she suffered the "nurses" were abrupt and rude and told her they didn't have a mop...and went looking for one before washing her and making sure she was comfortable in bed.