Basingstoke MP Andrew Hunter is threatening to name and shame the town's hospital in the House of Commons if bosses fail to get to grips with issues over the care of the elderly.

Mr Hunter - who has received a number of complaints from local people - says he will give hospital chiefs until the end of next week to address the situation. If that does not happen, he is warning that he could put a national spotlight on allegations of sub-standard nursing care for elderly people at the hospital.

Mr Hunter's threat is the latest development in an escalating controversy.

It comes a week after The Gazette published the story of how a nurse who works at the hospital resorted to poetry to protest over her mother's treatment there.

Mr Hunter - who last month voiced concerns over the treatment of elderly patients at the hospital and was assured that the situation was being addressed - told The Gazette: "I really hoped the hospital was sorting things out, but it appears that this is not the case."

He added: "I have hitherto held back from naming and shaming in the House of Commons, but clearly the time may come when I could do this.

"I will wait, but not long. I'm prepared to wait until the end of next week for a satisfactory commitment from the hospital. If it is not forthcoming, then I shall move."

Mr Hunter told The Gazette he will be seeking a meeting with hospital managers to discuss the matter, together with the question of hospital finance.

Nurse Terry Crame, of Buttermere Drive, Kempshott, is a senior staff nurse on G floor in the children's department and wrote the heartfelt poem calling for better care for the elderly because she was upset at the care and attitude of staff on E floor towards her mother Alma Rigby, who died aged 77 on April 15.

Mr Hunter, who was a recipient of the poem, said: "I'm glad The Gazette gave it that publicity. Obviously, there is grief in these situations, but I am now picking up so much of this sort of thing - almost more than anything else at the moment."

The Gazette reported last month how Mr Hunter requested standards of care for the elderly improve after four families complained to him about treatment on ward F1 which was a nurse-led unit but has now reverted to being a conventional ward for the elderly.

Mrs Crame told The Gazette on Wednesday that several people had contacted her about her poem. She said: "They've been saying it's just like it was for their mother or father."

North Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive Mary Edwards has told The Gazette that all issues relating to the care of individual patients are carefully investigated.

In a two-page special in today's Gazette, which puts the spotlight on care for the elderly at Basingstoke hospital, a senior nurse says staff are doing all they can to provide the best standard of care for elderly patients.

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