Craig Ford-Nairn, of South Street, Eastwood, was taken ill on January 22 with breathing difficulties and spent nine days at the QMC in Nottingham.

He tested positive for MRSA on his second day.

His wife, an ex-nurse, Rosemary Ford-Nairn, said: "In the room he was in there was excrement on the floor, sticky stuff on the floor and outside muck that people had brought in.

"The frame of his bed was dirty and most importantly there was a sharps bucket full to the brim. The date on the bucket was December 31 2007 - well my husband wasn't in the room until January 23."

MRSA patient, Mr Ford- Nairn, 63, said: "There's supposed to be a flap on the needles bucket to stop people getting in and I noticed it was missing. My six-year-old grandson was going to put his hand in and someone stopped him just in time.

"My room was terrible. When I was able to get up I made sure I had my slippers on, I can tell you."

Mr Ford-Nairn suffers with fluid on his lungs and heart and also spent time at the city hospital at the end of December. He went into the QMC with a nose bleed, which is how the family believe he contracted the virus.

Mrs Ford-Nairn, 57, said she bought sterile wipes and cleaned her husband's bathroom.

She said: "The dirt was everywhere - the wards, the corridors, the lifts, the stairs where they take people to see if they can walk up and down.

"The window sills were dirty, there was excrement, urine, blood, general rubbish, you name it. The window sills definitely hadn't been cleaned in a long time because they were covered in the dead leaves from the plants.

"According to the one and only cleaner that we ever saw, the ward that he should have gone to was closed because it was so filthy. Her exact words were 'if you think this is filthy you should have seen the ward he should have gone on.'

Mrs Ford-Nairn said her husband's bedding was supposed to go in a special red bag for contaminated items, but she said most days it was just thrown in the normal laundry bag with everybody elses.

She said: "The staff in there are brilliant but they're being let down by the lack of cleaners. Why haven't they got any?"

Along with her daughter and step-daughter, she complained to staff, took pictures and filmed parts of the hospital.

A spokesperson at the QMC said: ""We apologise for the situation which we deeply regret. We're working with the Ford-Nairns to discuss the situation and come to a resolution.

"Infection prevention and control remains our number one clinical priority and we take issues of cleanliness and hygiene very seriously."