Inquiry reports on hospital scandal

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 06 Februari 2013 | 15.36

6 February 2013 Last updated at 02:39 ET By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News
Helene Donnelly

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Nurse Helene Donnelly explains how she was spurred on to blow the whistle on Stafford Hospital and poor patient care standards

The public inquiry into the failings at Stafford Hospital - one of the biggest scandals in the history of the NHS - will publish its conclusions later.

Previous investigations have already established in harrowing detail the abuse and neglect that contributed to hundreds of deaths from 2005 to 2008.

This inquiry has looked at why regulators and senior NHS managers failed to pick up what was happening.

Between November 2010 and December 2011 more than 160 witnesses gave evidence.

The inquiry, chaired by Robert Francis QC, is the fifth major investigation into the scandal.

A full public inquiry had been promised in opposition by the Tories and soon after becoming Prime Minister, David Cameron announced its launch.

Chief inspector

The report will be laid before Parliament on Wednesday morning, and Mr Cameron will deliver a statement to the House of Commons following Prime Minister's Questions.

One of the measures the government is expected to announce is the creation of a chief inspector of hospitals post.

Continue reading the main story
  • The public inquiry is the fifth major investigation into what happened
  • It has focused mainly on the commissioning, supervision and regulation of the trust from 2005 to 2009 - something campaigners felt had not been properly covered before
  • It was chaired by Robert Francis QC, who also led the fourth major investigation
  • It sat between November 2011 and December 2012 and cost £13m
  • More than 160 witnesses appeared at the hearings and one million pages of evidence have been sifted through

The "appalling" levels of care that led to needless deaths have already been well documented by a 2009 report by the Healthcare Commission and an independent inquiry in 2010, which was also chaired by Mr Francis.

They both criticised the cost-cutting and target-chasing culture that had developed at the Mid Staffordshire Trust, which ran the hospital.

Receptionists were left to decide which patients to treat, inexperienced doctors were put in charge of critically ill patients and nurses were not trained how to use vital equipment.

Data shows there were between 400 and 1,200 more deaths than would have been expected between 2005 and 2008, although it is impossible to say all of these patients would have survived if they had received better treatment.

NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar said: "The culture of that organisation was not geared up to put patients' needs right at the heart of it; there was almost an institutionalised blindness to what mattered."

He added: "The risk, I think, today, is that we look to external things like better regulation or more inspection, to try to solve what effectively is a problem that can really be only solved by having a culture in every hospital where every member of staff is geared up to try and provide the best possible care for patients."

While the Francis inquiry has solely focused on what happened at Stafford Hospital, there is mounting concern in the wider NHS about basic standards of care.

Mike Farrar, chief executive NHS Confederation

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Mike Farrar: "As someone who came into the health service to do good, today is a day I genuinely feel shame"

Recent reports by the Patients Association and Care Quality Commission have both raised the issue.

Ministers have already started responding.

At the start of the year Mr Cameron said he wanted to make improving care one of his top priorities for 2013.

He pointed to the money being made available for training, particularly around dementia, the extra ward rounds being introduced in hospitals and the roll-out of the new "family and friends" test patient survey as evidence of this.

'Eyes and ears'

Chris Hopson, chief executive of the Foundation Trust Network, said: "Hopefully the report will help the NHS get to the nub of why poor care continues in spite of persistent attempts by trusts to resolve this complex problem."

Jeremy Taylor, chief executive of National Voices, an umbrella organisation of patient groups, said the solution lay in strengthening the patient voice.

"No matter how good, regulators and inspectors cannot be everywhere at once," he said.

"Patients, families and staff are the eyes and ears of the health service. We must ensure that they are in a position to speak out and be listened to."

BBC West Midlands special investigation, The Hospital That Didn't Care, on BBC One at 10.35pm on Wednesday 6 February.


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