A REPORT from a patient of creepy crawlies in the main reception at Stoke Mandeville Hospital is totally unacceptable, Bucks' health chief says.

A family from High Wycombe, who signed the petition calling for a probe into A&E, revealed they had seen about four daddy long legs and an insect they described as a centipede on July 9.

The patient's daughter, who spoke to Cllr Julia Wassell and the Free Press, claimed the A&E area in general was dirty and indicated poor hygiene.

Bucks Healthcare NHS Trust said it is now aware of the complaint but stressed this is the first report of this nature it has had.

It insisted this was not reflective of the standard of cleanliness at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in any way. Officials said that the staff work tirelessly to maintain a high quality of hygiene.

The case was raised at the county Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee meeting on Friday.

Anne Eden, Bucks Healthcare NHS Trust Chief Executive, said: "Clearly we have standards that we adhere to and aim to adhere to and if complaints are raised then certainly we go back to our contracted organisations in terms of putting plans in place to take remedial action.

"I have to say this is the first I've heard of anything along these lines but we'll take this away and look at it because clearly this is totally unacceptable."

The complaint has been passed on to assess.

Committee chairman Cllr Lin Hazell said: "There's a general performance problem, we've all seen the letters."

She said patient experience letters sent in, in connection with the petition, needed to be examined and reviewed.