'We cannot deny this happened': Viewers react to Stafford Hospital drama The Cure

The Cure prompted a strong reaction from many last night on Channel 4.

The 90 minute one-off drama revisited the horror conditions patients were forced to endure at the former Stafford Hospital – and the battle for a Public Inquiry after many elderly patients died.

Focused around Cure The NHS founder Julie Bailey, played by Sian Brooke, the drama followed her struggle to launch the campaign after witnessing first hand the neglect her mother Bella endured at the hospital before her death there.

Her campaigning had featured in the Express & Star over the years, including a meeting in Stafford with the then-Prime Minister David Cameron.

When her mother, Isabella, known as Bella, died in November 2007 after an eight-week stay at Stafford Hospital, run by Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, she began her campaign for changes after being horrified by the care of elderly patients.

Actress Sue Johnston, famed for the Royal Family and Brookside, plays Julie's mother in the drama.

The Channel 4 drama was a hard watch, with patients so dehydrated they were drinking from vases, left to feed themselves and take themselves to the bathroom, and left on beds – in soiled sheets – for hours.

Many took to social media to share their unease watching the "difficult" programme, including Ms Bailey herself.

She said: "The Cure was hard to watch but a story that needed to be told. Sad to hear overnight that so many are still suffering. The NHS needs to be safe for us all, not just those who shout the loudest.

"Thanks for all your lovely messages. Speaking truth to power is never easy."

Charlotte Wordsworth, an NHS nurse said she found it "incredibly hard to watch".

She said: "30 minutes into The Cure, and as an NHS staff nurse, I’m finding it incredibly hard to watch. Even under the strain that we are, I could never imagine treating my patients in that way.

"However, I feel desperately sorry for those staff members who could not provide the care they wanted because of staffing cuts, pressures from non-clinical managing staff, and finally unable to whistleblow safely."

Student nurse Emily Burke added: "To everyone saying The Cure is an exaggerated piece of drama, read the Francis Inquiry Report. I can assure you, you will be even more horrified.

"This Channel 4 [show] is nowhere near as bad as everything in that report. We can not deny this happened."

Many Stafford locals chose to boycott the show, however, and said they would prefer to "focus on their great work all those in Stafford Hospital have done and will continue to do".

Doreen Smith said: "I feel so sorry for everyone working so hard at Stafford Hospital to have to endure this. I am disgusted that the programme was allowed to be made never mind shown on TV.

"I wont be watching. Actually I will be at the hospital visiting my sister whose life they have just saved."

Claire Eley added: "Not watching - I can only comment on personal experience and over the years both my boys and husband have had, and continue to have, excellent care at Stafford Hospital.

"Nothing is ever perfect but I think we need to support, and appreciate, all our NHS staff and services."

The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust no longer exists – Stafford Hospital is now known as County Hospital and is run by the University Hospital North Midlands NHS Trust.