Patients about to go into surgery at Poole Hospital were left angry after being told to get dressed and go home because staff had fallen ill after a party.

One woman told the Daily Echo about her experience.

“We had all got into our nighties and dressing gowns when they told us our ops had been cancelled. They were making another date because all the doctors and anaesthetists went out for a party, had a good drink and some got food poisoning. Everyone was disgusted.”

The hospital’s director of nursing and patient safety Martin Smits confirmed a “number of staff” became unwell after an event in a non-clinical part of the hospital on Thursday, July 21.