Shamed hospital accused of leaving dying patients to starve

Lawyers are planning a “class action” on behalf of 23 families who contacted them with “shocking” claims of indignities and the most basic failings in care.

They believe the families who have contacted them so far about care at Alexandra Hospital, in Redditch, West Midlands, may represent “the tip of the iceberg”.

The number of potential claims make it the biggest group action of its type since hundreds died in appalling conditions at Stafford Hospital, leading to a public inquiry which is expected to criticise the wider failings of the NHS and of regulators’ failures to protect patients, when it reports next year.

The cases against Alexandra Hospital include:

* A 35-year-old father-of-four who his family say wasted away because staff did not know how to fit a feeding tube