Brendan's Hospital reported in yesterday's The Royal Gazette as "sleaze''.

The charges made by an anonymous employee of the psychiatric hospital are "grossly exaggerated'', Mr. Edness said.

"One suspects that this is someone who has a gripe with the hospital,'' he added.

The employee provided detailed information on everything from "urine-soaked chairs'' and "rusting'', beds to three patient deaths and one serious injury in the last four years.

"It was wrong to cast the hospital in that negative a light,'' Mr. Edness said. "All of that stuff can be answered.'' But Mr. Edness said he supported Hospitals Board director Mrs. Sheila Manderson, who refused to respond to a detailed list of the employee's assertions provided to her.

"She could disprove most of them,'' but "she shouldn't respond to that kind of sleaze,'' Mr. Edness said. "If they wanted to have something done about this, why didn't that person go to Mrs. Manderson in the first place, before going to the Press? That's ridiculous.'' He said anonymous allegations were "impossible to deal with''.

Since the allegations had been published, "I'm going to have a discussion with the Hospitals Board and see whether we should try to present the other side''.

As for cases involving death or serious injury, "it was not the hospital's fault in most of the incidents''.

It was "unfair to blame the hospital'' because a man "took off from the hospital and got on his bike and ended up having an accident,'' Mr. Edness said.

Investigations into that incident, involving Englishman Mr. Colin Jones, continued, he said. Mr. Jones admitted himself to St. Brendan's in March suffering from depression and died after crashing his cycle less than 24 hours later.

The article also detailed the deaths of Ms Angela Swan in 1991 and epileptic Mr. Rammie Mills this March. The employee said Mr. Mills was left unattended due to a lack of staff, fell from bed, jammed his head, and died of asphyxiation.

There would be no witch hunt for the employee who talked to the Press, Mr.

Edness said. "My advice to the hospital is not to bother with that sort of person.''