CLEANLINESS and nursing practises at the Royal United Hospital will come under greater scrutiny in the wake of a Channel 4 undercover documentary.

Dispatches: Undercover Angels, screened on Monday night, has prompted a patient watchdog to take action after a covert reporter employed as a healthcare assistant at the RUH for four months, revealed a series of lapses.

In one case, an MRSA patient was taken by wheelchair through the hospital by a porter unaware she was infected with the hospital superbug, while in a second incident an elderly patient was left soaked in urine for several hours.

The hospital, which serves west Wiltshire, was picked by TV bosses after a survey revealed it had one of the highest MRSA rates in the country.

The RUH Bath patient and public involvement forum, has announced its members will carry out a series of unannounced visits over the next six to eight weeks to test infection control procedures and standards of cleanliness.

Forum members have also been told to evaluate nurses' attitudes to patients, patient monitoring procedures and delegation methods used by senior staff.

In addition, forum members will be holding an urgent meeting with the RUH Trust's director of nursing Corinne Hall to outline the roles and responsibilities of her staff.

Management at the RUH will come under increasing pressure if these spot tests flag up more concerns.

A forum spokesman said: "Every hospital in the country has these lapses, what matters is how the trust responds and deals with any concerns as they arise.

"The actions planned by the forum are designed to ensure that lessons have been learned and are being implemented across the hospital. This will ensure that the vast majority of RUH patients continue to experience high quality nursing care, delivered by hard working ward staff."

The action plan was drawn up on Tuesday after the programme had been aired.

RUH chief executive, Mark Davies, refuted claims the hospital had one of the worst MRSA infection rates in the country and said it had dealt with 20,000 patients while the reporter was working undercover.

He said: "I can appreciate that some people watching the programme will be upset by what they have seen and I have asked Corinne Hall to carefully review the broadcast to ensure that the matters raised are quickly followed up and the appropriate action taken.

"I must also stress that it is simply not true that the RUH, as Channel 4 claimed, is one of the worst hospitals in the country for MRSA. From April to September 2004 our MRSA rates nearly halved."

Any patients, relatives or staff concerned by the programme can call a helpline set up by the hospital, on (01225) 824824.