IN the wake of recent headlines about data coding and financial problems  anyone currently waiting to go into the Royal Bolton Hospital might well be worried.
It’s hard to recall a time when our local hospital had such negative coverage. There seldom seems to be a positive story coming out of the huge Farnworth complex, so suffering trepidation is perfectly understandable.
But just hold on a minute. In spite of the damaging concerns over potential mortality rates and undisputed money worries surrounding Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, it’s worth clinging on to our famous Northern commonsense and really looking at this hospital.
Most families in and around Bolton will, at some time or other, have had cause to use its services. You may have ended up in A & E with a broken arm, accompanying a feverish child or with an elderly relative or friend who has had a fall.
You may have needed an operation for an illness, or surgery to control an existing condition. You may be regularly attending one of its many clinics, or simply visiting a poorly patient.
If you have been there under any of these conditions you will already know that here is a hospital of medical excellence, mostly staffed by individuals of deep caring compassion. Of course things sometimes go wrong – we’re all human, who hasn’t made a mistake? Nor am I saying that everything is hunky dory at the Royal Bolton and there is no need for any alarm. Plainly, it needs investigation and improvement.
But this does not mean the day-to-day standard of care - the pioneering eye clinic, the popular maternity unit or the busy breast care clinic – is affected. They are there for everyone, for you and I whoever we are.
The hospital will get through this bad time. Changes will be made and poor systems identified. Throughout all this, though, will be a staff of people determined to do their best under difficult conditions.
Like many local people, I’ve been a patient in this hospital – and in others – and can tell you that it remains one of the best, and I wouldn’t hesitate if I had to go in tomorrow. It remains a positive health legacy, and the prognosis eventually is good.