A HEALTH watchdog has called for a meeting with Alexandra Hospital chiefs to ensure its concerns over the state of the pathology department have been addressed, writes Becky Procter.

The move comes after members of Redditch and Bromsgrove Community Health Council were left appalled during an annual inspection of the pathology department.

CHC deputy chief officer Moira Morris said members wanted Worcestershire NHS Acute Hospitals Trust, which runs the Woodrow Drive Hospital, to give them feedback on the recommendations they had made.

Improvements to the dcor and cleanliness and the need for better staff facilities were included in the CHC's recommendations.

She said: "We did a scathing report after we visited the pathology department, which deals with blood tests and tissue samples.

"Members were appalled because it was a mess.

"You expect a laboratory to be spotlessly clean, tidy and immaculate but it was not like that at all.

"How the staff could work in those circumstances was beyond belief."

Mrs Morris said the department played a very important public health role and very often the correct treatment of patients was decided in the pathology lab.

The CHC will also be wanting an improved chapel facility in the hospital.

Mrs Morris said: "The CHC has been concerned for a long time that people in the hospital, including staff and patients, need somewhere to go for calm, quiet and solitude to talk to their God.

"So many patients have different faiths and cultures the hospital needs to provide something better than a room which can hold five people."