A hospital patient with a drain in her chest was told by a nurse to don a rubber glove and use a sanitary wipe to clean a toilet smeared with blood and faeces.

Emma Ciardelli was transferred to Waikato Hospital from Tauranga Hospital and was awaiting surgery for a collapsed lung when she needed to use a toilet.

But what the 38-year-old Papamoa woman found in three patient toilets on ward M14 shocked and disgusted her.

All three of the toilets were stained with faeces and one of them had blood on the toilet seat.

Ciardelli retreated and asked a nurse how often they were cleaned.

"She told me to put a plastic glove on and use a sanitary wipe to clean the seat. I had a chest drain in which is an open incision with a tube going from my chest into a box I had to carry around with me."

Ciardelli, a project manager, decided to "hold on" and complained to a doctor when she was being assessed for surgery.

"I was at the point where I was like, 'I want to leave, I don't want to stay here'. The doctor said, 'Well look you can't leave, because you could die'.

"And I said 'I don't want to be here because your toilets are revolting and unhygienic'.

"Basically my mum stayed with me the whole time and she cleaned the toilets because she was panicking I was going to check myself out and die."

She filed a formal complaint to Waikato District Health Board yesterday.

"These toilets need to just be ripped out and new ones put in but if they can't do that then at least they need to be cleaned properly, and if you're having men and women share they have to be cleaned more regularly."

By comparison Ciardelli said at Tauranga Hospital she shared toilets with women only and they were kept in a much better condition.

Waikato DHB chief nursing and midwifery officer Sue Hayward said if Ciardelli's claims were true the DHB offered its "deepest apologies".

"We're very surprised and concerned that this could have happened as we would never ask a patient to clean a toilet.

"We'd encourage her to make contact with us and put in a formal complaint so we can investigate this."

Hayward said there were eight unisex toilets in the ward that are cleaned three times a day, and the ward has a cleaner on seven hours a day, seven days a week.

"If extra cleaning is required it's a very easy process for staff to order that, or often they will ask the cleaners to do extra cleaning in person.

"If someone does make a mess then once staff are alerted to that they can make sure the toilet is cleaned before someone else needs to use it."

Hayward said Waikato DHB has a complaints process and encouraged anyone with a complaint to contact the DHB.

"All feedback helps to improve our services."

She said many problems could be resolved by talking things over quickly.

Complaints can be made by:

• Speaking with a staff member or manager;

• Completing a complaints form available in hospital clinical areas;

• Or going online at www.waikatodhb.health.nz