CONCERNED Winchester residents have been assured by health bosses that appropriate equipment and training is in place to combat the problem of bedsores.

The issue was raised after a Daily Echo report revealed that a patient who died of the MRSA superbug at the city's hospital had suffered from the serious skin complaint, which is associated with poor care.

The family of 67-year-old Ernest Wilde, of Bursledon, claimed after his death that he had been kept in "appalling" conditions at the hospital and had a number of seeping wounds.

Alan Weeks, of Winchester City Residents' Association, told the monthly board meeting of the NHS trust which runs the Royal Hampshire County Hospital that he thought bedsores were something that were "prehistoric".

He wanted to know what procedures the trust had for preventing, treating and recording bedsores.

Sharon Waight, Winchester and Eastleigh Health Care NHS Trust's deputy director of nursing, said: "We have a nurse who is employed for skin care and management in the trust and she is responsible for developing education and awareness programmes for other nurses.

"We have done an audit in the last year on the amount of pressure-relieving equipment we have and have recently invested a considerable amount in new equipment such as beds and mattresses. Pressure on skin management is a fundamental aspect of nursing practise."

She added: "Nurses do document bedsores and it is on patient records."