The daughter of a former Land Girl – honoured last year by the prime minister Gordon Brown for her work during WWII – has said her mother’s treatment at the hands of the NHS was ‘inhumane’.

The Daily Mail reports that Clara Stokes, 84, suffered a massive stroke in December 2009, which left her partially paralysed.

Her daughter, 57-year-old Elle Chambers, says that her mother's care at Luton and Dunstable Hospital was 'not fit for dogs', after she was allegedly left ‘wallowing in filth’.

Mrs Chambers says that her mother was ‘ignored’ by ‘overworked’ staff at the hospital – and left ‘dehydrated, hungry and lying in her own faeces’ for as long as six hours. Mrs Chambers has taken photos of her mother in hospital, which show her ‘helpless and confused in the mess’ and with her foot trapped in the bed frame.

Mrs Chambers said she also found that water intended for her mother to drink had been placed too far away – and no staff had been to help her drink for 16 hours.

Mrs Chambers and her 37-year-old daughter Michelle Plaford said they were so disgusted by conditions at the hospital that they tried to help feed other patients and offer them water – but staff stopped them, saying it was for ‘health and safety reasons’. At one stage, the hospital also ran out of medications, and staff had to search the ward for spare supplies.

Mrs Chambers moved her mother from the Luton hospital and she died in a nursing home on 28 February. She has written to Gordon Brown and complained of ‘negligence’, but was told that the letter had been passed to the Department of Health.

Mrs Chambers said:

'I cannot stand to see Gordon Brown spouting off about the good he has done for the health service. It sickens me. He would never say the same if it were his own mother being treated in such an inhumane way.

‘Gordon Brown said the country depended on her for survival – but when she depended on her country for her survival, where was it?’

Mrs Chambers and her daughter spent every day from midday to 8pm helping her mother – and the only time they did not go was when a stomach bug closed the ward to visitors. However, when they returned at 3pm one day, they found Mrs Stokes was covered in diarrhoea under one arm and had not been checked since 9am.

'She was paralysed and couldn't call for help,’ said Mrs Chambers. 'It's so sad she was in a terrible state. The nurses were so overworked they haven't the time to be compassionate.’

Luton and Dunstable Hospital has apologised to the family and said it was investigating the complaints – but denied Mrs Stokes was left unattended or that she was ever deprived of food, medication or water.

'Staff had a number of conversations about care and progress with the family during the patient's stay,’ said the spokesman. ‘The formal investigation into Mrs Chambers' complaint is continuing.’

The case is thought to be a source of embarrassment for the Labour Party. A poll in the Daily Mail published on Tuesday (27/04/10) revealed that most of those questioned did not feel the NHS was in ‘safe hands’ with Mr Brown in charge – less than one in five felt they could see an improvement in NHS services, despite resources having doubled under Labour.

Mrs Chambers added:

'I've grown up with the National Health Service – I'm just praying I don't get ill.’

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