Given all the bad press quangos have received since we were ‘blessed’ with a new government, the health service watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), certainly seems to be earning its keep.

The CQC has maintained it’s criticism of Pilgrim Hospital in Boston and it’s extremely depressing to hear a spokesperson for the hospital say that things have improved because they are now filling in a few forms.

From my personal experience, the hospital actually needs to go back to basics and not just faff around with bits of admin and updated procedures. Only the complete replacement of the staff running the wards would achieve what’s needed at this hospital, because most of the staff are simply not up to the job. I’ve no doubt there are some highly professional and dedicated staff in the hospital wards at present, but they have let patients down just as badly as their sub-standard colleagues, by failing to speak out over the years.

Now compare my experience in Pilgrim Hospital with a recent, albeit brief, stay in Peterborough’s brand new city hospital – put simply, there is no comparison. The people of Peterborough and its hinterland are fortunate indeed to have, not just a nice new shiney hospital, but to also have excellent staff to go with it. As an aside, and again from personal experience, it’s the staff that make the difference, not the age of the building, Nottingham City Hospital proves that – over 100 years old and counting.

On an even more depressing note, the County Hospital in Lincoln is even worse than Pilgrim, at least it was 3 years ago. I’m therefore more than a little surprised that the CQC hasn’t laid in to them yet.