Bosses at Newton Abbot Hospital have refuted claims they are putting a damper on the yuletide spirit after health and safety concerns resulted in a ban on Christmas decorations. A patient on one of the two wards at the £25 million building, which opened earlier this year, contacted the Advertiser to say how glum the place was. Not wishing to be named in public, the patient wrote from their sick bed to say how appalled they and their fellow patients were at being told that brightening up the ward was forbidden. They wrote: 'Most people would not choose to spend Christmas in hospital, given a choice, but cheer themselves up with the thought that hospitals always make a great effort to make Christmas paticularly special. 'It can be much better than some people enjoy at home. To be told this week that decorations are banned because they are a fire hazard has appalled everyone so much that nothing seems to be happening at all.' Our correspondent went on to say there were 'endless possibilities' to decorate the wards using non-flammable materials but that they had been overlooked. Matron Liz Stirling said she was disappointed by the complaint and that plenty had been done to evoke the Christmas spirit. She said: 'Christmas celebrations at Newton Abbot community hospital are already in full swing. Yesterday evening, December 21, a choir came into the hospital to the delight of our patients. 'Members of the local Salvation Army will be at the hospital on Christmas morning to sing hymns to our patients. Like every year on Christmas day, the town's mayor will visit and talk to patients, giving them gifts. 'Every year we try to bring some cheer to patients at Christmas as we know it can be hard for them to be in hospital at this special time of year. 'While we obviously can't display highly flammable decorations, we have put up two Christmas trees, one by the main entrance and one upstairs in-between the wards, and we have also decorated the wards with poinsettia. 'So, it is really disappointing to hear that someone has complained about the Christmas decorations at the hospital.'