Hospital bosses turn against radio show for humiliating nurses

The family of the nurse who apparently killed herself after being the victim of a hoax call to the hospital caring for the Duchess of Cambridge spoke of their anguish on Saturday as her bosses said the prank was "truly appalling".

Lord Glenarthur, the chairman of King Edward VII Hospital, accused the Australian radio station that made the call of causing the "humiliation of two dedicated and caring nurses".

One of them, Jacintha Saldanha, was found dead on Friday, three days after the stunt call in which two DJs posed as the Queen and the Prince of Wales to fool her into passing the call to a colleague. Saldanha's colleague gave out details of the pregnant Duchess's condition as she was treated for severe morning sickness.

The 46-year-old nurse's husband, Benedict Barboza, said he was "devastated" while her family in India described the mother of two as "a beautiful person". The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge published a statement on their website to add their condolences, saying they were "deeply saddened".

Saldanha was working a night shift when she took a call at 5.30am on Tuesday from the two presenters, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, claiming to be from the Queen. Saldanha transferred it to the Duchess's ward, where another nurse spent two minutes discussing her condition and treatment.

A recording of the prank call was vetted by lawyers before being broadcast in Sydney, and around the world on the internet. Saldanha was found unconscious on Friday morning close to the hospital. She died later. Last night there was a growing row over the broadcast as the radio station was excoriated by the hospital after it launched a provocative defence, saying prank calls were "a craft".

Rhys Holleran, the chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo, said: "Prank calls as a craft in radio have been going for decades and decades. They are not just part of one radio station, or one network or one country, they are done worldwide."

His failure to apologise fully prompted an angry response from hospital chiefs already grieving Saldanha's loss.

In a damning letter to Max Moore-Wilton, the chairman of Southern Cross Austereo, Lord Glenarthur wrote: "King Edward VII's Hospital cares for sick people, and it was extremely foolish of your presenters even to consider trying to lie their way through to one of our patients, let alone actually make the call.

"Then to discover that, not only had this happened, but that the call had been pre-recorded and the decision to transmit approved by your station's management, was truly appalling.

"The immediate consequence of these premeditated and ill-considered actions was the humiliation of two dedicated and caring nurses who were simply doing their job tending to their patients."

The Australian Communications and Media Authority, which regulates radio broadcasting, said it had received many complaints about the stunt and there were calls for the presenters to be sacked.

Advertisers have already withdrawn support from the station following the prank.

Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister, called Saldanha's death a terrible tragedy, saying: "Our thoughts are with her family and friends

at this time." Saldanha's family, both in Bristol where she lived with her husband and two teenage children, and in India, where she trained as a nurse, were said to be shocked and devastated.

In a statement posted on a social networking site yesterday, her husband, Barboza, 49, who works for the NHS, wrote: "I am devastated with the tragic loss of my beloved wife Jacintha in tragic circumstances, she will be laid to rest in Shirva, India."

A family friend in Bristol said: "Ben is utterly devastated. He cannot believe it. They used to speak most days on the phone when she was away working. They were very close, but he cannot understand what's happened."

Saldanha had a son, 16, and a daughter, 14.

In her home town of Shirva, near Mangalore on India's south-west coast, Saldanha's mother-in-law, Carmine Barboza, told how her son struggled to speak through his tears when he broke the news of his wife's death to his family.

Barboza, 69, said: "We got a call last night from Benedict saying she is no more. More than that we do not know, what actually happened. She is dead, that's all. He was crying and couldn't speak much. Jacintha was a very caring woman."

Parishioners at the family's Catholic church in Bristol, where Saldanha and her family are regular worshippers, will remember her in prayers today.

She lived in hospital accommodation while working in London.

Flowers were left there yesterday by her colleagues. The way in which the hoax call was able to get through was described by royal sources as a one-off lapse of strict security protocols.

At night, the hospital's reception is closed, and nurses are expected to accept calls that come in but only to pass on messages and not transfer calls. Royal sources said they did not hold the hospital responsible for the lapse.

"The procedures are in place, they have always worked. In this case, very sadly, they didn't," a source said.

Royal aides said the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge maintained "complete confidence" in the hospital. The Duchess would return there should she require any further treatment during her pregnancy.

"There is no doubt about that," said an aide. "At no point during the process did the Duke and Duchess lay any blame on anyone there. They only offered their sympathy and support at the time, and even more so now."

To emphasise the point, a statement from the Duke and Duchess in which they spoke of their sadness at Saldanha's death and which was made available to the media was published on their website.

Police said the cause of Saldanha's death was "unexplained" but they were not treating it as suspicious. An inquest is expected to open on Monday.

(Reporting team: Roya Nikkhah, Andy Chapman, Ben Leach and David Barrett)