Richard Harrington, Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Watford, has questioned the target culture at Watford General Hospital.

Mr Harrington, who last night spent ten hours at the hospital’s A&E department shadowing frontline staff, said the desire to meet targets appeared a constant distraction.

He also spoke of his shock after seeing a male nurse assaulted by a drunk patient.

Mr Harrington said he agreed to the visit in a bid to better understand the problems faced by frontline staff – a group he described as “inspirational”.

He told the Watford Observer: “The message I got was that the current system is too target focused. Staff are always worried about moving people to beds in the four limit.

“That leads to constant bed juggling in the Acute Admissions Unit (AAU) to fit people in.

“I asked everybody about this: they all agreed that targets were completely reasonable, but that you shouldn’t be judged as a complete failure if you don’t meet them or a complete success if you do.”

Mr Harrington said a potential future Tory government would judge success not on targets, but on outcomes – how patients were treated.

Also of great concern, he said, was the level of abuse faced by frontline staff from drunk and aggressive patients.

He added: “One guy came in drunk and punched a male nurse. What was shocking is that he [the nurse] didn’t seem that surprised.

Mr Harrington also told of one 13-year-old girl who also staggered in “blind drunk” and had to be admitted to a children’s ward bed – preventing it being used by a suspected appendicitis patient.

He concluded: “Sadly you can’t stop these people coming to hospital. You can only try and stop them getting so drunk in the first place which is more of a social issue.

“But overall I was really impressed by what I saw and the dedication of staff. I really believe that the NHS is the best thing about this country.”