HEALTH chiefs in Bolton have vowed to take a report into failings at a scandal-hit hospital seriously — and say they are working on an action plan to address its 290 recommendations.

Just weeks after the Francis Report, an inquiry into care failings at Stafford Hospital, was published, Bolton’s Clinical Commissioning Group chiefs say they will complete their plan in the next few weeks.

At the CCG’s public board meeting, on Friday, February 22, Dr Colin Mercer, the CCG’s clinical director for governance and safety, said it was a shocking report and a lesson in what can go wrong.

He added: “It is very important that we understand what went wrong and we make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Dr Mercer said he had already spoken to 28 clinical bosses at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Royal Bolton Hospital, to arrange “walkarounds” on their wards as a priority.

He added: “I would like to be much more visible within our foundation trust and to find out what is going on.

“We should prioritise walking the wards and we need to involve patients to tell us what is happening.”

CCG chairman Dr Wirin Bhatiani said: “I think this is a challenge for every CCG up and down the country.

“We are planning to bring the plan back here to the board within weeks.”

The CCG’s comments come after hospital bosses agreed at their board meeting, at the start of February, that they needed to listen to patients and staff and spend more time visiting wards.

The trust’s interim chairman, David Wakefield, said they needed to become a “listening organisation”.

Two months ago, Dr Mercer launched a new watchdog committee, called the Star Chamber, to monitor the effect of cuts on the quality of care at the hospital.