A DAMNING report into the closure of a hospital ward has accused nurses of indulging in “unacceptable behaviour” towards the elderly patients.

Investigators condemned a “culture of insensitivity” among employees who put their own needs above those of the people they were supposed to be looking after.

Read the Primary Care Trust’s report on Ford Ward at Fordingbridge Hospital

But health bosses have refused to sack the staff responsible and have simply moved them to other jobs within the NHS, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Those implicated in the investigation have been disciplined. But the trust is refusing to say how the staff behaved, what action was taken against them and how many employees were involved.

A public meeting held last night failed to answer the questions of relatives of elderly patients who were supposed to be getting care on the ward.

Health chiefs did not even make a public apology to them.

Three nurses were suspended after Ford Ward at Fordingbridge Hospital was closed in October 2007 following a spate of complaints about patient care.

An investigation was carried out by a firm of management consultants and a summary of its report has now been published by Hampshire Primary Care Trust, which runs the hospital.

Sue Harriman, the trust’s director of clinical excellence, said: “The inquiry confirmed unacceptable behaviour towards patients by individual staff. A culture of insensitivity to the needs and rights of patients appeared to have developed within a small group of staff which tolerated and exacerbated such behaviour.

“Due to the small size of the hospital this group had become sufficiently entrenched to discourage criticism or whistle-blowing by other staff. The nursing culture of the hospital had become inward-looking, subordinating patients’ needs and rights to the convenience of the staff.

“Care was given on a block basis, with little individual planning, and patients left to their own devices while staff did other things.”

Concerns about the ward were first raised in 2003.

“In subsequent years a number of incidents indicated that there continued to be significant issues and a number of internal and external investigations were commissioned,” says Ms Harriman. More complaints about poor standards of care were received during 2007, resulting in the decision to suspend all admissions and temporarily close the ward.

It re-opened last July after a range of measures, including a comprehensive staff retraining programme and the appointment of a new ward sister.