Serious failures in standards of care at Stafford General Hospital are evidence that the "marketisation of the health service has gone too far", two bishops have warned. The Bishop of Lichfield, the Right Reverend Jonathan Gledhill, and the Bishop of Stafford, the Right Reverend Geoff Annas, made the comments in the Church Times in response to an inquiry into the death of 66-year-old Gillian Astbury at the hospital in 2007. Bishop Gledhill said the investigation into the hospital had been a "long and terrible time for the people of Stafford", particularly the relatives of those who had died "unnecessarily and suffered". He said people should "not be afraid to go to their local hospital", but also expressed sympathy for NHS workers who have "borne the weight of cuts and reductions". He called for a return to the Christian values that inspired the creation of the NHS.

Pray: for a return to the Christian values that once underpinned the NHS as a caring organisation. (Gal.5:22)

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