Widow's anguish after MRSA tragedy

She believes she could win thousands of pounds in damages, but would rather see the money spent on improving the hospital.

Mrs Ham, of Amherst Road, Bexhill, said: "Before he went into hospital, my husband was a perfectly healthy 60-year-old man.

"His only gripe was that he had difficulty catching his breath after strenuous exercise, so the doctor referred him to the Conquest to have a chest drain fitted.

"This is a very minor procedure, and he was due to be out of hospital within a few days. But three weeks after going in, he was dead."

Mr Ham, a care worker in the Hastings and Bexhill area, had the drain fitted while in his bed on the Tressell ward.

Though it is 'normal practice' for such minor operations to be carried out on wards, a senior consultant at the Conquest later told Mrs Ham doctors feel it is unsatisfactory.

It was only after Mr Ham's death that MRSA was found around the operation site. A post-mortem confirmed it had been the cause of his death.

Mrs Ham said: "More patients will be infected with killer hospital infections unless things improve drastically.

"Doctors are being forced to carry out minor operations on wards, which are not sterile environments and where there is hardly enough room to walk between the beds.

"The patient being treat next to my husband had no control over his bodily functions and was urinating and defecating in his bed.

"Essentially, my husband was operated upon in conditions worse than a public toilet. The hospital is filthy, worse than medical centres in Third World countries, and more people will die unless something is done."

As a tribute to her husband, Mrs Ham wants Conquest bosses to spend the money she believes they would lose fighting her in court on cleaning up the hospital and providing sterile areas for minor operations.

On Sunday, she went into the hospital and took some shocking snaps of grubby floors, where bloody swabs had been discarded, and filthy ceiling ducts spewing out unidentifiable dirt.

A spokesman for East Sussex Hospitals Trust, which runs the Conquest, said the risk of infection during minor operations on wards 'should be very low' because antiseptics and sterilising techniques are used.

She added: "The Trust takes the issue of cleanliness very seriously and has introduced a number of initiatives to reduce hospital acquired infections.

"We have explained to Mrs Ham there is a programme of work for specialist cleaning of the ceiling ducts in the corridors, starting this month."

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