A leading expert in health policy has likened the scandal of poor standards of care at Stafford Hospital to the Titanic ship disaster.

Professor Calum Paton told the public inquiry into the hospital he believed appalling levels of care came about as a result of too much focus on Government targets, meaning the health trust did not see the problems it was facing in the future.

He said: “Maybe it was a bit like the Titanic, the trust didn’t see the ‘quality’ iceberg lying ahead.”

The former chairman of the University Hospital of North Staffordshire said he couldn’t understand why the regulators and the local primary care trust or health authority did not take action.

Professor Paton told inquiry chairman Robert Francis QC he thought changes in the NHS created a dysfunctional system with trusts becoming more interested in money than quality.

He described the reforms of the NHS under the Labour Government as “persistent re-disorganisation”.

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