When Joyce Williams was admitted to Stafford Hospital on October 28, 2007 with a broken arm and a urinary infection, her family expected her to face a relatively straightforward treatment programme.

Yet only a few weeks later, the health of the grandmother, 88, suffered a shocking deterioration which left her fighting for her life.

During a visit at the turn of 2008, a family friend - a trained nurse and health visitor - noticed that she was rapidly losing weight and that a pungent smell was coming from her bed.

After she complained to nurses, Joyce was diagnosed with uraemia, an infection caused by chronic dehydration.

The family claim this was caused by hospital staff not taking any measures to ensure Joyce, who has dementia, took any of the liquid refreshments they provided to her.

"You would go in there some days and find that she had four drinks lined up by her bed and no-one had made sure she drank any of them," Joyce's granddaughter, Rebecca Davis, told The Times.

"It was only Jean (the family friend) who diagnosed her with uraemia after she paid her a visit.

"Nurses and consultants walked past her day after day and did nothing. We were so worried about her, but it was Jean who saved her life."

After her diagnosis, Joyce was placed on a drip - a step the family had demanded weeks earlier - and her health gradually improved.

But by the time she was discharged, on January 12 last year, she was still only six stone - two and a half stone less than her previous weight - and with only a small amount of strength.

The family say they complained about Stafford Hospital's care to the local MP, the hospital trust and even wrote to Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, but no action was taken.

Because of her lack of strength, the family say Joyce's dementia has been accelerated, she sometimes fails to recognise family members, and her quality of life significantly worsened.

Through the campaign group Cure the NHS, set up by Julie Bailey, whose mother died at the hospital in November 2007, Miss Davis pressed for an inquiry into the hospital's care, and campaigners say that they are not surprised by the results.

"People in Stafford are afraid to go into the hospital. Nurses do not want to work there because it looks bad on their CV - it is in a downward spiral and it's affecting the whole area," she said.

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