THOUSANDS of Hampshire residents have signed a petition demanding a major clean-up at Southampton General Hospital.

The petition was raised by former hospital employee Marjorie Leonard, pictured above handing it over to Dr Julian Lewis MP.

She took action after hearing complaints about the standard of cleanliness on the wards.

Mrs Leonard, of Testwood, Totton, said: "People are horrified and disgusted at the current state of the hospital.

"I've been told that liquids on the floor are not cleaned up and that scraps of food are left lying under beds for days."

Mrs Leonard also claimed that English nurses were being made redundant and replaced by foreign workers.

She presented her 2,303-signature petition to New Forest East MP Dr Lewis, who pledged to write to health chiefs and highlight the issues raised by the document.

Dr Lewis praised the standard of medical care at the hospital and added: "They are doing the difficult part of the job well.

"Unfortunately they are literally messing up elsewhere.

"An incoming Conservative government will give hospital matrons the power to close an entire ward if they believe it needs cleaning. So many targets are being thrown at hospitals by the government that the temptation must be never to close a ward because it could result in a target being missed.

"But what's the point in keeping a ward open if people who go there to get better end up in a far worse state?"

A Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust spokesman said: "We devote considerable time and effort to keeping the hospital clean.

"Our domestic staff do a great job but they can't always be everywhere. If people do spot something that needs attention, it really helps if they draw it to the attention of the ward sister or person in charge so that we can tackle it straight away.

"I can categorically deny any suggestion that foreign nurses are taking jobs from English ones.

"Last year, for example, we gave jobs to as many of the newly qualified nurses who trained locally as wanted to work here."