A WAR hero discharged himself from Colchester General Hospital because of the “appalling” care.

Sapper Ashley-James Hall, 20, whose legs were blown off in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, was being treated in Colchester General Hospital for suspected meningitis.

He is now being treated in isolation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where injured troops are cared for.

He still has open wounds from the explosion and has contracted a bacterial infection in his legs.

According to the family, the infection is similar to MRSA and means he must be kept in isolation. He discharged himself when he was set to be transferred out of the isolation unit and on to a general ward.

“Military care is better than the NHS."

Mark Prentice, a spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, said it had not received an official complaint. He added: “Preliminary investigation which indicates the care given to Ashley-James was entirely appropriate at all times during his recent stay on the emergency assessment unit at Colchester General Hospital.”