more than five hours.

But administrator at the King Edward VI Memorial Hospital, Mr. Hume Martin has defended the decision to leave the body in the ward.

Mr. Martin says that the woman was left in the two-bed ward to respect the wishes of her family, who did not want to see her in the morgue.

But the other patient, who has asked not to be named, said the body could easily have been moved somewhere more private.

The experience happened during a three week stay in the hospital. She said: "It was a two-bed, semi-private ward. When the woman was brought into the ward she was breathing heavily.

"At 6 a.m., the following morning she was silent. I told the nurses but they said she was still showing vital signs.

"At 8 a.m., a nurse came to me and told me that the woman had passed away.

They then put screens around the bed and left her there until 2 p.m.

"It did not bother me that much but it could have upset other people. I did not complain I am just interested to find out if it is hospital policy to do this.'' She also expressed worries that visitors could have been in the ward during the six hours and been upset by the sight of the body.

She said: "I mentioned it to the nurses and they said I could go and sit in the patients' sitting room, but I think a better idea would have been to take the lady there. They could have locked up that room.'' Mr. Martin said that he believed that the time was only five hours and that the hospital had not received a complaint.

He said: "What happened was that the family wanted to see her in the nursing unit before she was taken to the morgue.

"It was a highly unusual situation but we were trying to meet the wishes of the family of the deceased.''