A member of Stafford borough council's health scrutiny committee says she had no idea about that some patients were receiving terrible care at Stafford Hospital.

Cllr Christine Shelton-Baron became a member of the borough council's health watchdog committee in 2006.

The committee was one of a number of organisations responsible for monitoring the quality of health care at Stafford Hospital.

She told the inquiry she was unaware of any examples of poor quality care at the hospital and that her own experience had been a very positive one.

"I did not recognise until early 2008 that there was a problem. That was when the media picked up on things.

"My experience during 2008 was that I was cared for. My life was saved, I owe my life to the hospital. The nurses were good. They were helpful. I really couldn't have asked for better care while I was in there."

"There was an old lady in the room, who didn't was confined to bed and she did need her personal hygiene dealing with, and on occasions she probably had a few minutes to wait before someone came, probably because they were dealing with another patient.

"But on the whole she was well. Everyone seemed to be well looked after."

She also said that the Staffordshire primary care trust, which was also a regulatory body, attended meetings as well.

She added: "They gave us information. We asked them questions. We scrutinisd their work and there was some quite rigorous questions asked by members of the committtee."

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