Two members of staff at a Greater Manchester hospital have been suspended in the aftermath of a TV documentary which revealed ‘unacceptable behaviour’.

We understand the two workers were among those filmed on a ward at North Manchester General Hospital.

The Dispatches: Hospitals Undercover documentary showed nurses swearing and calling a patient a derogatory name. In a later scene, a support worker shouted at a patient who said she was in pain and struggling to sit up. Another member of staff appeared to bully an elderly woman who was unable to eat.

Bosses at Pennine Acute Trust, which runs North Manchester, said they were taking the allegations made in the documentary very seriously and that their investigation was progressing fast.

A trust spokesman said they were unable to discuss ongoing internal disciplinary matters, but a source told the M.E.N two workers had been suspended while an investigation continued and they are now expected to face the trust’s disciplinary procedures.

In the documentary, two undercover reporters covertly filmed and recorded patient care and hospital life, including conversations with and between members of staff.

The M.E.N has revealed Pennine bosses wanted to include ‘good behaviour’ codes in staff contracts following the exposé.

They also vowed to report any workers found to have behaved in an ‘unacceptable’ manner to professional disciplinary bodies.

Hospital bosses say staff had to cope with an ‘unsustainable’ 10 per cent increase in accident and emergency attendances and a 12pc rise in emergency admissions last month.

Speaking about the programme, trust chief executive John Saxby said it ‘highlighted some of the relentless pressures at North Manchester’.

He said: "Clearly we have got to do some work with primary care trusts and GP consortia about how we can reduce the tidal wave of patients coming in."

Mr Saxby admitted the programme showed the need to work on reducing bed-blocking – where patients spend longer in hospital because they have nowhere else to go. But he said an allegation that patient care was being compromised to meet targets had been investigated and was ‘entirely unfounded’.

The trust has also invited the health watchdog the Care Quality Commission to review its standards of care following the programme.

Shauna Dixon, chief executive of NHS Oldham, which is responsible for commissioning services from Pennine Acute on behalf of Bury, Manchester and Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale primary care trusts, said: "The behaviour of some staff and the treatment of some of the patients shown during the Dispatches programme was entirely unacceptable. Pennine Acute assured us that this would be dealt with as a matter of urgency.

"We must now satisfy ourselves that the trust is taking action to make sure all their patients are receiving the good quality care to which they have an absolute right. We have been in regular contact with Pennine Acute and will be meeting with them very soon to discuss the work which is underway."

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