A survey has revealed there are still no toilets for the disabled in Airedale Hospital's outpatients department - three years after a similar check.

Airedale Community Health Council (CHC), which acts as the patients' voice within the NHS, will hear next week of concerns raised through a 'quality audit' into the outpatient referrals system.

The report says particular emphasis was placed on disabled facilities in the check three years ago.

But the team which carried out the latest audit in October saw no evidence of disabled toilet facilities.

The CHC, which is due to meet in the hospital boardroom on Wednesday, January 20, has been told Airedale NHS Trust's estates department is looking at the possibilities.

The audit report says no obvious problems were revealed which were not being taken seriously by the Trust and where efforts were not being made to make improvements. But the team which studied the outpatients service felt staff were overstretched at all levels and that visual-display unit regulations were not being adhered to. They were also concerned about the lack of privacy for patients in cubicles.

The CHC members also noted:

office space was cramped because more staff had been placed in already overcrowded areas

the lack of storage space for notes and trolleys

folders and notes placed above head height and posing safety problems.

Trust managers agree with the urgent need for more accommodation in the outpatients department and say moves are being made to ease the difficulties.

The CHC was also concerned about dermatology clinics, where they felt patients passing through were hampered by the layout. And they were concerned that Airedale provided only one such clinic for a population of 43,250, while Bradford Royal Infirmary had one clinic per 15,000 people.

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