STAFF at Colchester General Hospital will all have to complete a new customer service training course.

A report reveals the attitude of staff at the hospital trust is a “continuous theme” of complaints it receives.

As a result, a training package called “A First Class Service” has been designed by by head of patient experience Tammy Diles.

It will be included in mandatory training for all staff “to support in improving attitude”.

The trust had 38 complaints in June, bringing the total so far this year to 113.

A report outlining the initiative will be discussed by the trust’s board of directors tomorrow.

The meeting will be led by chief executive Nick Hulme and chairman David White.

A fortnight ago the pair told a trust governors’ meeting that staff could expect “tough love” after the hospital received more criticism from the Care Quality Commission.

The watchdog had found concerns over bullying, specifically in Peldon ward, a lack of leadership in A&E, a shortage of staff and incorrect methods of dealing with dementia patients.

Regarding staff morale, r Hulme said the “axis had been too concentrated on staff” and more focus needed to be on patients, and employees were “expected to do a good job”.

Mr Hulme and Mr White were appointed in May this year after their predecessors, Alan Rose and Frank Sims, chairman and chief executive respectively, announced they were leaving ahead of merger between Colchester’s and Ipswich’s hospital trusts.

The move followed a series of problems for Colchester’s hospital trust which last month was declared “clinically and financially unsustainable”.

The trust has been in special measures since November 2013 and its predicted deficit by the end of this financial year will be £41.7 million.

Tomorrow’s meeting will be held in The Iceni Centre, next door to the Postgraduate Medical Centre, Colchester General Hospital at 11am.

At the beginning of the meeting, there will be an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions.

The agenda and supporting papers are published on the trust’s website.

n A "NEVER event" occurred at Colchester’s General Hospital for the second time this year, a report reveals.

The incident, described as a never event because they should never happen, restuled in moderate or severe harm or death to the patient.

It happened in June and was documented in papers published ahead of a meeting of the trust’s board of directors tomorrow.

The incident involved a misplaced nasal gastric tube.

The first such occurred in April.