THREE North-East hospital trusts are among the ten worst in the country for discharging patients in a malnourished state, according to a controversial report.

Figures released by the Conservatives showed that the number of patients leaving English hospitals in a malnourished state has risen to record levels in the past year.

The figures show that in 2008-9, 185,445 people were discharged while malnourished, compared to 175,003 who went in malnourished.

This means a record 10,442 patients were more malnourished after being in hospital that year.

In a national league table of worst offenders, the Newcastle Hospitals trust was placed second with 3,730 malnourished discharges, the County Durham and Darlington trust was fourth with 2,952 discharges and the South Tees Hospital trust was ninth with 2,405 discharges.

The County Durham and Darlington trust was among the first in the country to introduce pictorial menu cards to try to encourage patients to eat more.

Shadow Health Secretary Stephen O’Brien said: “These figures are of serious concern. This has been a growing problem for a number of years and yet Labour have done very little to protect these vulnerable people.”

Professor Mike Bramble, medical director of the South Tees Hospitals trust, said: “The way the report has been presented is misleading.

The trust is a tertiary centre which treats cancer and complex disease, and many of our patients admitted to hospital are already malnourished because of their disease or illness.

This is an issue we take very seriously and we have introduced various measures such as protected mealtimes.”

Alison McCree, associate director at the County Durham and Darlington trust, said: “Nutrition plays a key role in helping patients to recover as quickly as possible, and is an important priority for the trust.

“The trust’s catering services have received national recognition for the standard and quality of our food services to patients, staff and visitors – most recently winning the Hospital Catering Award at the Health Business Awards 2009.

“We feel it is misleading to suggest that an increase in patients being discharged from hospital with malnutrition is due to poor care or the quality of food in hospitals and would question the interpretation of these figures.”

A spokeswoman for the Newcastle trust questioned the reliability of the figures and said they closely monitored patient nutrition.