Groups of GPs should talk more publicly about any problems at Bradford’s hospitals, a councillor has warned.

A health board met yesterday to discuss the scandal of poor patient care at Stafford Hospital, and what was being done to make sure nothing similar happened here.

But board member Councillor Simon Cooke said the local Clinical Commissioning Groups, which run services like GPs’ surgeries, should be making it more public when they have concerns about local hospitals.

He said: “The hospitals can fight their own corner, saying ‘We’re doing a wonderful job’, but the public expects us to be doing this.”

Michelle Turner, director of quality at Bradford Districts and Bradford City CCGs, told the Bradford and Airedale Health and Well-being Board meeting that they were starting a programme of inspections and visits to check the quality of care.

She said the CCGs were also trying to improve their own transparency, and all their meetings were now heard in public.

But Coun Cooke said: “Holding your meetings in public, while it is welcome and transparent, is not the solution, because the public are not paying attention to that.

“They don’t know where your meetings are.”

He alsdo called for the CCGs to make better use of the press to highlight any concerns.

He said: “You need to be a bit more pro-active. Use the newspapers. Spend a bit more of your communication money to tell the public about what you are doing to make healthcare better.

“If you challenge the hospitals, saying, ‘This isn’t good enough’, they will improve. If you do that publicly, they will improve quicker.”

Helen Hirst, of Bradford City and Bradford Districts CCGs, said it was also important to publicly praise the hospitals where appropriate.

She said: “It’s very easy to knock everybody but I want the public of Bradford to have confidence in the health service.”

And Miss Turner said it would be useful for the hospitals to be invited to the board meetings.

The Bradford and Airedale Health and Wellbeing Board does not have any members representing the district’s hospitals.

She said: “A starting point would be to invite the provider here and to ask them to talk about what they are doing. It’s a positive way of having a conversation in here.”