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If you work in Colchester hospital, this is about you.
If you work in a hospital, anywhere, this is certainly about you.
If you work in the CQC, this absolutely about you.
Yesterday, the CQC issued a press release about the performance of the Colchester hospital…
… an inspection they carried out last May. You may have noticed, it's now October and as far as I can see, the full CQC report is still not on the regulator’s website.
According to the CQC the ‘risks’ at Colchester were serious enough to trigger two warning notices.
The fact that there’s been a five‑month delay in publishing the full findings, tells you everything you need to know about the CQC…
… sloppy, poorly run and live in a limbo land. Either the situation has been fixed, or it is still a worry. Neither scenario inspires confidence.
The press release is exactly the kind of thing that makes a headline but misses the deeper truth.
The presser is not good but probably, representative of much of the NHS…
... doesn’t make it right but...
... if we put this release into context, it’s less a scandal about Colchester and more a snapshot of a system under relentless strain.
‘Requires Improvement’ is not a good look. The same issues recur… patients in corridors, exhausted staff, missed mealtimes, lapses in infection control, medicines management, training shortfalls... throughout most of the NHS.
It also raises a question about the mechanics of the inspection. The CQC didn’t reassess ‘effective’ or ‘caring,’ yet it criticises the hospital on safety, responsiveness and leadership.
That’s like judging a student on homework and attendance but never looking at exam results.
It seems to me, Colchester's fundamentals are actually working well enough and without factoring in these core measures, the report is a skewed, misleading, mischievous and a dishonest picture.
The real story… Colchester is not an exception. It’s an example.
This hospital was opened in 1985 to serve a population of about 130,000. It now serves probably more than 200,000 at least a 50, maybe 60% increase, outpacing the regional average population growth…
... without a commensurate rise in beds, space, or staff. The system has been stretched thinner and thinner. It lacks investment, not effort.
What are we really looking at?
Corridor care, the new normal across England. We don’t need the CQC to tell us that. The Daily Mail do it… cheaper and more uptodate.
Staffing? London hospitals have a vacancy rate of 13.5%, equating to approximately 9,445 unfilled posts.
The lure of London is a problem for Colchester. London staff get a London Living Wage allowance that pull nurses and allied professionals west, on the train to London, rather than staying east in Colchester.
Romford hospitals are eligible for the ‘Outer London’ allowance… about £2,000-£3,000pa extra, depending on role and band.
Colchester can’t offer top‑up payments, so it’s left competing with goodwill and smaller pay packets.
Vacancies linger, corridors stay crowded, the CQC has another report to write... or delay writing.
Patients waiting, not because people don’t care but because the local ecosystem doesn’t work... neither does it work nationally.
A service running beyond its capacity. The margin for safety and headroom for dignity… long gone.
Colchester doesn’t need warning notices. It needs investment, space, staff and realism about what can be safely delivered in 2025, not 1985.
This woeful press release gives us a partial picture… leaving out effective and caring, the report is not a balanced view. The media, staff and the public see the report as a blanket condemnation, even though some fundamentals remain good.
Frankly, this is not untypical of the CQC’s work.
Trust bosses and Boards know the CQC is an organisation working behind the curve. They dare not speak up, for fear of bullying and reprisals.
In a world awash with real‑time patient flow, outcomes and safety data, the idea of turning up with a clipboard is neanderthal.
It’s time to close them down and spend the money on something useful.
If you work in Colchester, or somewhere like Colchester, thank you for what you do. Turning up day-after-day, to make the impossible a little bit more possible.
Tell the CQC to get stuffed. By their own five measures they are;
- poorly led,
- unsafe,
- ineffective,
- unresponsive,
- uncaring and
... should be closed.
Who will inspect the inspectors? Who will keep powerful people honest?
No one serious about management could possibly work at the CQC.
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