Hospital bosses have hit back after an inspection team said ward conditions for mentally-ill patients were very poor.

Bob Allen, chief executive at Airedale NHS Trust, described the comments from the Mental Health Act Commission's visiting team as "extremely churlish".

The inspection team visited the mental health services wards at Airedale General Hospital in Steeton and interviewed patients as well as checking documentation and looking at conditions for patients.

In the report, the inspectors noted: "Previous visit reports have identified the very poor environmental conditions for in-patient services at Airedale General Hospital and on this occasion little, if any, improvement was noted."

But Mr Allen told a meeting of the hospital's trust board: "They might not be purpose-designed for mentally-ill people but to describe them as very poor environmental conditions strikes me as churlish."

Chief nurse Susan Franks said over the last year or so, all the beds on the mental health wards had been replaced with divan-style beds, removing the old-fashioned hospital beds.

"We have provided duvets so they're more homely and more like the bedding that patients would have when they're at home," she said.

Bathrooms had also been refurbished, said Mrs Franks. "I don't agree with the commission at all," she told the board meeting.

Mr Allen added Government policy over many years had been to put extra resources into community care for mentally-ill people, rather than in-patient care, and he had urged the commission to use their findings to press for more resources for purpose-built accommodation.

Trust medical director Dr Paul Godwin said he believed the wards compared favourably with those in other hospitals.

The board is to write to the Mental Health Act Commission asking what standards it uses to assess conditions against.

The team did, though, praise the electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) suite's excellent facilities and singled out for praise the "excellent work" of the activities organiser at the hospital.