Among the most disturbing findings in the report, which was released on Thursday, were "macabre accounts" of claims that the presenter, who died in 2011, performed sex acts on dead bodies in the mortuary at Leeds General Infirmary, and at least one other hospital. Sue Proctor, who led the investigation into Savile's abuse at Leeds General, said Savile also claimed that large rings he wore were "made from the glass eyes of dead bodies at the mortuary". One witness said Savile claimed he would "wheel the dead bodies around at night". Investigators said they could not confirm his claims but concluded that his interest in the mortuary was "not within accepted boundaries". It also emerged that staff at a number of hospitals had been told of incidents but failed to pass on complaints to senior managers.

Staff told investigators the decisions not to make formal complaints reflected the "culture at the time" and the way the entertainer had masked his abuse with "pretend humour" that misled onlookers into thinking "nothing was amiss". British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt apologised to the victims of "sickening and prolific" abuse by the disgraced, late BBC television presenter and disc jockey in hospitals and hospices. He said they were "let down badly" by the government and health service. Savile repeatedly exploited the "trust of a nation" for his own "vile purposes", Mr Hunt said. The inquiry began with his first contact with the hospital in 1960 and included testimonies from 60 people, 33 of them patients. Victims ranged in age from five to 75. Three incidents were rapes. Nine victims reported incidents to staff but they were not passed to superiors. Savile was a hugely popular figure during his career on radio and TV and was knighted in 1990 for his extensive fundraising for charity, but after his death in 2011 at the age of 84, his dark side was exposed.

A police investigation last year concluded that he was a prolific paedophile and sex offender who used his celebrity status to attacks victims on BBC premises, schools and hospitals. Claims that some of the abuse happened in hospital settings triggered the separate NHS investigations published on Thursday. The inquiries, which also included a review of Savile's links to Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital, were overseen by Kate Lampard, the former chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service. At Broadmoor investigators found "clear failings" in security as Savile had keys allowing unrestricted access to ward areas. Savile sexually abused at least five individuals there. That report also said that an ex-patient reported passing on complaints to Alan Franey, then the general manager at Broadmoor and a friend of Savile's, from three female patients in the 1990s, although there was no record of the complaint and Mr Franey could not recall handling it. The reports add to disclosures of Savile's wider abuse from Scotland Yard's Operation Yewtree, which began in 2012 after a documentary exposed his paedophilia. Police found that Savile had 450 victims. A number of the cases in Thursday's reports were also investigated by police.

Mr Hunt said: "I want to apologise on behalf of the government and the NHS to all the victims who were abused by Savile in NHS-run institutions. We let them down badly and however long ago it may have been, many of them are still reliving the pain they went through." He said he "hasn't ruled out anything" after MPs called for politicians and others to be "called to book" for anything they did that may have aided the abuse. NHS chiefs described the findings as "truly awful", while both current chief executives of Leeds General and Broadmoor apologised to victims. Telegraph, London, AFP, PA