THE head of Bromley Hospitals Trust has faced patients' wrath over failing hygiene and debts threatening to break £100 million. Rudolf Richter reports on the latest setbacks for the troubled Princess Royal University Hospital.

The debt crippling Bromley hospitals will have risen to a staggering £99 million by next month.

Health chiefs have had to borrow another £12 million on top of the existing cash debt of £87 million after they failed to reach a savings target of £23 million in the last year.

The setback means Bromley Hospitals Trust is among the 17 financially worst-off NHS trusts in the UK.

The figures were revealed by Ian Wilson, the trust’s interim chief executive, as he and his team faced a grilling from patients in the wake of a damning hygiene inspection.

The Princess Royal University Hospital has just two more weeks to get its house in order before a second visit by Healthcare Commission inspectors.

A random inspection last month exposed soiled commodes, bloodstains on the side rail of a bed and blood splashes on a wall, as well as layers of dust in other areas of the hospital.

Tom Williams, from Orpington, invited Mr Wilson to see the wards from a patient’s perspective at a packed meeting of Bromley Hospitals Patient and Public Involvement Forum.

Referring to some lax cleaning, he said: "I’ve spent four weeks in your wards and I think it would be a good idea if you get out of your suit, jump into pyjamas and sit in the wards for a couple of days to see what goes on there.

"You have a few bad apples in the barrel and until you get rid of them, you’re not going to fix it."

Another speaker at the meeting, Douglas Clegg from Chislehurst, told Mr Wilson: "You are the leader, not just the manager of the organisation. The big challenge for you is that over the next few years you have to get a culture in place where no member of staff will walk past a speck of dirt. If this was a nuclear or chemical plant, nobody would walk past a leaking pipe. They would do something about it."

Bromley Extra is asking to add your views of what has gone wrong with Bromley Hospitals Trust and what should be done to turn it around. Write to Bromley Extra, River House, Maidstone Road, Foots Cray, Sidcup, Kent DA14 5RH or e-mail bromleyextra@thekmgroup.co.uk