Skilled hospital staff saved my life

Surely your front page article (Sickening, August 14) about another “inadequate” report, this time condemning Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital, from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) shows just another botch job from them, showing that this underfunded, largely inactive monitoring commission, which is supposed to check on patients’ health care facilities regularly, to protect us all as users of our NHS, is still inadequate and “not fit for purpose”.

I know from unfortunate personal experience over the past few years that the CQC has again shown themselves to be “inadequate”, now incompetent and just plainly wrong when they comment negatively on the William Harvey and the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals.

They are wrong about both hospitals, as many other patients have found, too. There are, sadly, regular examples of the CQC letting patients and others badly needing proper care be ignored by this moribund, under-funded and largely inactive organisation, due to financial and organisational strictures.

The CQC needs revamping, with better funding and new management for all our sakes.

All the William Harvey needs is more staff of a similarly wonderful expertise to those who presently work there, with better funding generally, but specifically occasions there has been frustration in A&E but it was almost inevitable in a department which is so hugely busy. Three things must be disheartening for the nurses and doctors working in that department.

Firstly, there is the huge amount of paperwork that appears to be required, day in and day out. Trouble is, they are sometimes so busy writing they don’t really have time to read information that already exists! Hence the constant demand for the same details, over and over again!

Secondly, there are patients who simply should not be there. People who use A&E as an alternative to waiting and visiting their local GP. Finally, there are patients who simply put themselves in hospital because they have misused drink or drugs. These are surely the most selfish and irresponsible of all.

Against this, only today, when accompanying my husband to an outpatient appointment, I overheard a staff member volunteering to give up a precious day off in order to receive much-needed training.

I am sure that, as with almost any institution which has had systematic and constant financial cutbacks, there are things that could be improved but I want to applaud all that I have seen that has been outstandingly good.

The William Harvey Hospital