Nurses spend too much time chatting, says Downing St patient tsar Ann Clywd People are incensed by nurses' stations. They say they just gather and chat constantly. They are suggesting bringing back the desk on the ward - not off the ward. One person wrote to her of their "horror as elderly and infirm patients went hungry and thirsty." "They were left for long periods in soiled bedding and clothing," the letter said. Wards were dirty. We turned up at visiting time and saw uneaten meals still left on patient tables. The nurses weren't busy - they preferred to gather round the nursing station and discuss their social lives. Mrs Clwyd said the same problem had come up "over and over again." However, she said complaints were not getting through to hospital managers. Mrs Clywd's review of patient complaints comes after the Francis Inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire NHS scandal where up to 1,200 patients died unnecessarily under poor standards of care. The Government last week promised to overhaul the system by improving training standards and putting care back at the heart of the health service.