We treat horses better than the NHS treated my father, says Jenny Pitman

Her anger was re-doubled when she went back to the same hospital to visit her brother and saw that hygiene levels seemed to have fallen even further.

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The 61-year-old immediately decided 'enough was enough' and has launched a national campaign for NHS cleanliness

Mrs Pitman said her horses were treated 'with more respect' than her 92-year-old father George was in the weeks before his death from Clostridium difficile.

The retired farmer was treated at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon for stomach cancer late last year but moved to a hospice after his condition deteriorated.

At the hospice he was immediately diagnosed with the deadly bug and he died two weeks later.

Mrs Pitman is furious that the hospital did not test him for C. diff - which has overtaken MRSA as the biggest threat to NHS patients - when he fell ill.

She said: "When my father went into the hospital, the first doctor to check him over said he was in marvellous condition for a 92-year-old.

"Throughout his stay I was appalled by the things I saw and the sheer lack of respect towards the patients.

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"On one occasion my father was left alone on a bare mattress with a bed pan for 45 minutes. My sister came to visit and discovered him calling for help because he was in pain.

"Nobody told us he had the infection until he got to the hospice, but they must have been capable of diagnosing it at the hospital.

"I am very aware of hygiene and always have been after a career with horses. But we showed more respect and gave our horses better care than what's going on in these hospitals. I will not back down on this one.

"I won't accept that the Government and NHS bosses are doing all they can. The situation is out of control and standards seem to be slipping further."

Mrs Pitman, who trained Grand National winners Corbiere and Royal Athlete, said: "My father was going to die eventually, I can accept that.

"But contracting this superbug took away his dignity and made him give up the fight."

When she was treated for thyroid cancer in 1998 at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, standards of hygiene and staff attitudes to patients were noticeably higher, she added. "I do think things are getting worse and it is all a matter of respect," she said.

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Her decision to lead a campaign came six weeks ago after her brother Peter Harvey, 62, was admitted to the Great Western Hospital. She said: "When I went back there I realised that nothing has changed, in fact the hygiene standards seemed to have dropped, and I thought enough was enough."

A Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust spokesman said: "Mrs Pitman has raised several concerns with us. We have looked at these and where we have identified problems we are working with her to put things right for future patients."

Mrs Pitman, who is no longer a fulltime trainer, has met the chief executive of the hospital and is contacting MPs and Government health officials to demand further action.

She plans to compile a dossier of case studies detailing the 'inexcusable shortfalls' at the Great Western and other hospitals to add weight to her campaign.