Four nurses suspended

The Royal Bolton Hospital, Lancashire, where health workers two months ago called for emergency management, has suspended four nurses after the death of a 20-year-old patient. An internal inquiry was launched last Friday when Michael Stocks, a recovering drug addict, was found dead.

The incident follows other problems in Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust. In September, the health workers' union, Unison, called for an independent public inquiry into the management and provision of mental health services after an auxiliary nurse, Shaun Darrock, was accused of suffocating an elderly patient. Louise Jury