Commons clashes between Tony Blair and Iain Duncan Smith over the hospital treatment of a 94-year old woman have sparked a major political controversy.

The Conservative leader accused the prime minister of lying over the claim by relatives of Rose Addis that she had been left unwashed - with blood on her hands and feet - in the casualty department of a London hospital for three days.

In the most angry prime minister's question time exchanges since Duncan Smith assumed the Tory leadership, Blair was attacked over the accuracy of a letter from Whittingdon Hospital.

Attacking the NHS's "culture of deceit", Duncan Smith accused Blair of believing the "hyperbole" of NHS bureaucrats.

Rebutting the claims Downing Street later sailed in to a major political row after it released intimate detail of Rose Addis's medical history, along with information about two other patients subject to newspaper allegations over poor treatment.

Details given in a media briefing involved revelations of a patient's incontinence and another's meningitis.

The row has triggered an angry response from the hospital, with the Whittingdon's medical director, Dr Norman Parker attacking Duncan Smith for not checking details of the claims before raising in the Commons.

"The man is misinformed and has not done his homework," he said.

Some newspapers lead on claims that the 94-year old woman - admitted with a head injury - had refused approaches of nursing staff on the grounds of race.

The row comes ahead of a keynote speech on public services to be delivered by Tony Blair tomorrow.