Concerns have been raised after many elderly patients have been left sitting in their own excrement in hospital discharge lounges for up to 12 hours.

Gordon Butcher, regional chairman of the Registered Nursing Homes Association, says he has received numerous complaints from matrons.

He says matrons across North Somerset find when patients are returned from hospital trips to Bristol and Weston-super-Mare they are in a poor state.

Often he says they are dehydrated and have soiled themselves after being forced to wait for transfers home by an overstretched ambulance service.

Mr Gordon raised the matter at a recent North Somerset Health Overview scrutiny panel and invited the committee chairman to meet with matrons.

He said: "I was invited to the meeting as an expert witness to outline the collective experiences of matrons across North Somerset.

"The committee chairman and vice chairman came away with concerns from what they had heard and attended a matrons meeting.

"They heard from every matron about their concerns and they have written to me to say they have grave concerns, which they are about to address.

"It is not uncommon to have complaints about hospital discharge but I am receiving many complaints.

"Matrons tell me they are experiencing patients being returned to them dehydrated and soiled because of early appointments and late returns.

"It only takes two hours for an elderly person to be left in their own faeces for their skin to break down and produce the beginning of bed sores.

"Matrons tell me when a patient goes for a day exam up to Bristol they have to be ready by 9am for an 11am appointment and will often not return until 6pm or 7pm.

"When dealing with Bristol hospital admissions patients are often discharged early in the morning and often can wait up until midnight to go home.

"This is because the majority of patients require stretcher ambulances, which finish at 6pm and then patients are left with a paramedic ambulance.

"But if there is an emergency that is obviously priority resulting in patients having to wait for up to 12 hours until an ambulance is free.

"In Weston the situation is similar and is not uncommon for a patient to be ready for 9am and not return until 4pm for a day clinic and as late as 4pm to up to 8pm for new admissions when it is an admission release.

"We are getting chronic patients in need of palliative care being left in a discharge ward, which is traumatic for them and so we are trying to address these practises."

Discharge lounges are waiting seated areas which are staffed by nurses, though they do not have any hospital beds.

If they are still waiting at meals times a meal would be given to them like any other patient.

Weston General spokeswoman Caroline Thomas said:  "Any concerns raised regarding discharge of patients to nursing homes have been discussed at meetings with the Trust over the past few years.

"Although we have not had any individual instances to substantiate concerns, we have been working with colleagues to ensure our discharge processes have been reviewed.

"This was noted at the meeting where the concerns about discharge were raised, with positive comments made by colleagues from within the Council and the NHS.

"We ensure our discharge procedures are regularly audited to enable care homes to raise any problems with us and none have done so since 2006."

A GWAS spokesman said: “Our Patient Transport Service manager meets regularly with the Weston General Hospital and had not been made aware of any issues about the service.

“However, following the concerns raised by Mr Butcher, we have since met with him and invited him to identify when there are specific incidents of elderly patients being kept waiting for transport back to their nursing home.

“We will then be able to discuss with the hospital whether this was due to the patient still waiting for their hospital appointment at the time their return transport was available.”