BBC defends undercover nurse show

AN undercover nurse carried out secret filming because it was the "only option" to reveal the neglect of elderly patients on a hospital ward, a disciplinary hearing was told today.

Margaret Haywood, 58, filmed at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton for a Panorama programme after being approached by the BBC. The producer of Undercover Nurse, Elizabeth Bloor, told the Nursing Midwifery Council fitness to practise panel "there was an over-arching public interest" because the programme had received more than 4,000 complaints about conditions.

Ms Bloor added: "We felt our only option really was to ask somebody to go undercover on a ward and that person really should be a nurse."

Ms Haywood, who had been an adviser to the BBC before working for it at the Royal Sussex, admits breaching patient confidentiality. The hearing continues.