The hospitals have been nationalised and turned into zones of political correctness. The Royal Bolton hospital is signalled out. When you first appear at that hospital, you are given a form to fill in which asks for your race and your sexual orientation, whatever that might be. No wonder patients are neglected. With all the horrors of this report, how many people will be sacked? That's right - zero. Now ask yourself what would happen to any employee who made a politically-incorrect statement? Or wore a tiny cross or the medal of a saint.

Well done nmgh but I'm shocked

There is far to much adulation of the NHS,which means that people are ignoring its faults.
No doubt the lefties will be on here blaming this on Thatcher and the tories it fits their narrative that the world began in may 2010.
The truth is that the nhs is nowhere near an excellent service and needs improvement. yet when the government proposes change then the left , for tribal reasons , and the medical establishment fr self interest , go hysterical in their opposition.
The government should grow a pair and stick to their plans, we deserve better

Much of the criticism of the hospitals concerns not lack of resources but simple neglect by nursing staff. This is a symptom of much wider problems in society.

Well,they got rid of State Enrolled Nurses and Auxilliaries replacing them with over qualified uncaring nurses who think that care of old folk is below them because they are now highly qualified! Not all of them may I hasten to say but far too many of them.
It used to be a caring profession and a lot of the Irish nurses who staffed hospitals in the 50's and 60's were very caring and compassionate. They probably wouldn't be considered suitable for nursing these days.

My father was a patient in Royal Bolton Hospital for 6 months prior to his death in 2007 and I was absolutely horrified by the standard of so-called care provided. Practically every day I had to complain to staff about something and spent hours in meetings with Matrons, Ward Sisters, doctors and PAL staff. It was like banging your head against a brick wall and I could not understand why supposedly qualified health professionals could not notice and act on things which were all too obvious to relatives - for instance, my Dad had had a stroke and I was concerned he wasn't able to eat enough of his food as when I arrived at visiting time he always appeared to be wearing most of his lunch down the front of his pyjamas (which he hated as it was an affront to his dignity). It wasn't until I got a Matron involved that they said he could be given foam handled cutlery which he would find easier to grip - that should have been provided from the outset, not rocket science after all. That was relatively trivial compared to some of the stuff that went on, after his death I wrote a 9-page letter of complaint and got back the usual guff about apologies for having failed your father and lessons have been learned. Apparently not, judging by this latest report. Under-staffing has got nothing to do with it, every time I was at the hospital the nursing staff seemed to have plenty of time for chatting and laughing amongst themselves at the nursing station and bore no resemblance to people rushed off their feet.

Actually two local hospitals escaped criticism, Tameside Hospital Isn't in that list of shamed hospitals either! Or do you only report on Tameside Hospital when it is bad news??

As a qualified nurse I find this both disappointing and yet unsurprising. There are many factors which may have influenced the findings. Lack of staff on some wards, although not all, staff who are too busy filling in the numerous bits of paperwork and risk assessments now required to run a ward in order to meet targets. But most disturbingly, there does appear to be a minority of qualified staff who feel it is not within their remit to provide actual care for patients and feel it is sufficient to merely place food on a table, often out of reach, or given to patients who are unable to feed themselves. The Trusts involved will make a big play about learning lessons and making patient care a high priority, when in reality the majority of managers are only interested if it impacts on the hospital's ability to hit government targets. It is a shame that the minority of nursing staff who do not provide a high standard of care overshadow those who do. It will need a change of emphasis by both the hospitals and the universities who are training student nurses before this is resolved.