RESIDENTS who waited 15 months for the outcome of an investigation into a Hampshire hospital have told health chiefs: Give us the facts.

NHS bosses are refusing to release a 90-page report written by consultants who investigated complaints about patient care at Fordingbridge Hospital.

Instead they have produced a brief summary accusing nurses of “unacceptable behaviour” and citing a “culture of insensitivity”.

But they are refusing to reveal what happened in Ford Ward at the hospital and what action was taken against the people responsible.

The ward was closed in October 2007 and remained shut for nine months while an investigation was carried out.

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

Alan Lewendon, a former mayor of Fordingbridge, said: “The full report should be published. It would clear the air if people knew what took place at the hospital.”

Bill Bray, a former chairman of the Friends of Fordingbridge Hospital, called for the document to be released.

He said: “The public must be trusted with full reports. How on Earth can they form an opinion if a 90-page document is cut down?”

Current mayor Jean Willis, was also angry. “We weren’t given any fine detail,” she said.

“We were informed that certain members of staff had not performed their function according to the rules but we weren’t told what actually happened.”

Sue Harriman, the trust’s director of clinical excellence, said: “There was no physical abuse and no deliberate mistreatment but patients were not always treated as individuals.”

She refused to cite any examples of staff behaviour, claiming there would be “no benefit” in releasing any further information.

“A number of individuals have been disciplined and they were not all ward-based staff. The process also involved some management,” she said.

“Lessons have been learnt. We are a new organisation that has latterly managed this process and are now delivering high quality care.”

As reported in the Daily Echo, the trust received several complaints about hospital staff two years ago. Ford Ward was closed pending an investigation by Verita, a London-based firm of management consultants.

A trust spokesman said Verita’s report would not be made public because it contained the names of individual patients and staff.