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6 February 2013

Mid Staffordshire “is a story of appalling and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people”

Hospital staff and managers should be prosecuted if patients are harmed as a result of poor care, inquiry finds.

By Caroline Crampton

The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry’s report has been published today, and inquiry chair Robert Francis has made 290 recommendations as to how NHS culture can be changed to ensure that the years of abuse and neglect that occurred at Stafford Hospital can never happen again.

In a statement, Francis said: “This is a story of appalling and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people.” The priority of his report, he said, was not to find a scapegoat, but find ways of putting patients and the quality of care first.

According to BBC News, the chief recommendations of the report are:

  • The merger of the regulation of care into one body – two are currently involved
  • Senior managers to be given a code of conduct and the ability to disqualify them if they are not fit to hold such positions
  • Hiding information about poor care to become a criminal offence as would failing to adhere to basic standards that lead to death or serious harm
  • A statutory obligation on doctors and nurses for a duty of candour so they are open with patients about mistakes
  • An increased focus on compassion in the recruitment, training and education of nurses, including an aptitude test for new recruits and regular checks of competence as is being rolled out for doctors

David Cameron apologised for the failures during a statement on the report in the House of Commons this afternoon. He also confirmed that the new post of “chief inspector of hospitals” – in the manner of Ofsted – will be created.

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