HOSPITALS: Junior doctors living in squalor

Junior doctors are being forced to live in appalling conditions because minimum standards set by the Government as long ago as 1991 are being routinely flouted at hospitals round the country, a report from the British Medical Association says today.

Out of 120 NHS trusts questioned, not one complied with the standards. Less than half provided accommodation which included a comfortable bed; 60 per cent had inadequate heating; less than a quarter provided proper soundproofing; many sites failed to provide adequate security arrangements and fewer than half of them provided decent kitchen facilities.

Although many of the doctors using hospital accommodation worked through the night, it was found that very few hospitals provided hot meals after 7pm.