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thomas davison

Fury as hospital staff let off over 1,200 needless deaths
THE worst scandal in the history of the NHS was laid bare in a damning report yesterday that blamed a hospital�s �failings on every level� for the unnecessary deaths of up to 1,200 patients.
By: Jo Willey
Published: Thu, February 7, 2013

Campaign-leader-Julie-Bailey-yesterday-with-a-copy-of-the-report Campaign leader Julie Bailey yesterday with a copy of the report

The horrific suffering of the sick and the dying at Stafford Hospital included vulnerable and elderly patients being left unwashed, starving and desperate with thirst.

Horrified family members recalled walking on to wards hearing their relatives howl in pain and being overpowered by the smell of stale urine.

Victims were �deprived of dignity and respect,� said the report�s author Robert Francis QC as he published the findings of a 31-month public inquiry into the deaths at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust hospital between 2005 and 2009.

Widespread and shocking failings involved everyone from the senior �managers down to the nursing and administrative staff, the devastating 1,782-page report says.

Mr Francis demanded a new �zero tolerance� approach to breaches of basic standards. Yet his report failed to blame individuals for the appalling care, refusing to name and shame �scapegoats�.

He said it would be �dangerous� to blame �a single healthcare professional� for the �systemic failings�.

Families of victims disagreed. Julie Bailey, who set up campaign group Cure The NHS after her mother, Bella Bailey, 86, died at the hospital in 2007, called for both NHS chief Sir David Nicholson and Royal College of Nursing chief executive Peter Carter to quit.

Sir David, who was head of the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority and was responsible for supervising the hospital at the time of the scandal, last night refused to go.

He said: �I am not ashamed of being in my job today. Clearly I regret incredibly what happened to those patients.�

He said it was a �whole system failure� and added: �I take my share of the responsibility for what happened�.

The report makes 290 recommendations for �fundamental change� across the NHS.

Its author Mr Francis said: �This is a story of appalling and unnecessary �suffering of hundreds of people. They were failed by a system which ignored the warning signs and put corporate self-interest and cost control ahead of patients and their safety.

�There was a lack of care, compassion, humanity and leadership. The most basic standards of care were not observed, and fundamental rights to dignity were not respected.�

Patients were left in soiled sheets and those who could not eat or drink without help did not receive it, he said, adding: �Many will find it difficult to believe that all this could occur in an NHS hospital. The trust that the public should be able to place in the NHS was betrayed.�

Prime Minister David Cameron apologised on behalf of the Government saying patients suffered �truly dreadful� mistreatment and neglect.

In a statement to MPs he ordered the creation of a new Chief Inspector of �Hospitals, who will have responsibility for investigating �whether a hospital is clean, safe and caring, rather than just an exercise in bureaucratic box-ticking�.

Even he questioned why no one has been disciplined. He said doctors and nurses should have been struck off but that the �overwhelming responsibility� for the failures should be laid at the door of the Trust board.

But Mrs Bailey said: �We are looking for resignations � people have got to be held accountable within the NHS.

�Nicholson needs to resign. Carter needs to resign � he has failed the frontline. We have lost hundreds of lives within the NHS and we want accountability � we owe that to society and all the loved ones we have lost.�

The Unite union also said yesterday that Sir David �is not the person to lead the NHS�.

I am not ashamed of being in my job today. Clearly I regret incredibly what happened to those patients

NHS chief Sir David Nicholson, this man should be sacked then sent to prison for life.

Last night there was further anger after it emerged Martin Yeates, chief executive of Mid Staffs Trust in 2009, was not compelled to attend the inquiry or provide a witness statement because he was too ill.

Emma Jones, from law firm Leigh Day which represented 120 victims, said: �It seems incredible to us the man at the very heart of this scandal did not have to give evidence.� An NHS Commissioning Board spokesman said: �Both the Prime Minister and Robert Francis make it clear the creation of scapegoats will not create the lasting improvements we all want to see. Sir David Nicholson is completely committed to the NHS.�

An RCN spokesperson said: �At no point was Dr Carter criticised in the report.� Lyn Hill-Tout, current chief executive of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, apologised unreservedly. And Mike Farrar, head of the NHS Confederation, said: �We owe it to every patient, family member and carer to commit to making sure these sorts of tragedies do not happen again.�

An immediate investigation will now be carried out by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, head of the NHS Commissioning Board, into care at the five hospital trusts which have the highest death rates. They are Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

This is line with the governments plans to kill off patients in this country so there is more room for younger immigrants and of course look at the money they save.
It cannot be right that no one is going to be blamed for this, 1200 deaths, well if thats the way of it and nothings going to be done people will have to get their own justice,
AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.

MAKE SURE IF YOUR ILL TO TRY AND STAY AT HOME THE NHS ARE NOW DEATH CAMPS,IF THEY DONT KILL YOU OFF ONE WAY THEY PUT YOU ON THE LIVERPOOL CARE PATH TO MAKE SURE YOU DIE.

2Anne · Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 399 Location: Norfolk

What we do not see is any pics of the docs and nurses involved in these horrible neglect cases.
I was in a London hospital and my care was disgusting. My bed was not made each day, I was just left and my drip which was my only fluid was allowed to run through even tho' I had called the nurse asking for it to be changed. It was frightening and horrible being there and this was a private hospital. The relevent factor here was that the nurses were blacks straight out of Africa. They were incredibly lazy and callous. I used to walk around with my drip to exercise and they sat all day in the nurses station and did nothing.
The NHS has recruited more and more of these foreign nurses and is now paying the price. Did you notice that in the pics of neglected to die patients there was not one ethnic. ie the Asian docs look after their own.
The PC mentality stops any sort of debate about this problem so it will continue no matter what measures are taken.
Employ filth and pay the price.