HEALTH chiefs have released a heavily censored version of a report detailing the appalling treatment of elderly patients at Fordingbridge Hospital.

Officials tried to keep secret the findings of the report, published privately a year ago, and repeatedly blocked attempts by the press to obtain a copy under the Freedom of Information Act.

Terry Scriven, who lives near Fordingbridge and who is the Liberal Democrats’ prospective parliamentary candidate for New Forest East, said: “There may be occasions in which it’s necessary to withhold employees’ names to prevent the stigma following them around, but I can’t understand the rationale behind the decision to delete great wads of text.

“People have a right to know what individual nurses did.”

The report says poorly trained staff adopted a “casual, thoughtless and off-hand attitude” to patients, leaving them unsupervised in the dayroom for long periods and eating some of their food.

It also criticises bosses, saying they failed to provide effective leadership and did not take disciplinary action when necessary.

Safety and security are among other issues raised by the document, which says outside doors were left unlocked and the absence of bell cords in the lounge meant patients were reduced to shouting and banging on tables to summon help.

Verita, a London-based firm of management consultants, carried out the £150,000 investigation in 2007/8 after a spate of complaints about Ford Ward, a rehabilitation and palliative care unit.

The trust shut the ward in November 2007 and suspended three nurses.

The report says there is no evidence that staff systematically mistreated patients.

But it adds: “We do, however, believe there is a culture at Fordingbridge Hospital in which staff can be casual, thoughtless, off-hand and lacking in self-awareness both as to their practices and in their interactions with the patients.”

Last night, the trust announced that “appropriate disciplinary action” had been taken but refused to say how many employees had been disciplined, what action had been taken against them and whether anyone had been sacked.

Chairman Jonathan Montgomery said major improvements had been made at the hospital since the report.

“Ford Ward reopened in July 2008 following a refurbishment and with new arrangements for clinical leadership,” said Prof Montgomery.

“Local people, patients and staff have been very positive about the improvements that have been made since the ward reopened.”

Prof Montgomery said all the recommendations made by Verita had been actioned.

He defended the decision to release only an edited version of the report, saying publication of the full document would result in the identification of people who gave evidence in confidence.

Bill Bray, former chairman of the League of Friends, said he had spent a lot of time in the hospital and the report was a “gross exaggeration”.