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Former Stafford Hospital staff claimed £3 MILLION during scandal period

Consultants at the former Stafford Hospital were paid an estimated £3.2million in bonuses for 'clinical excellence' during a period of system-wide failings, according to a new report.

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The staff at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which ran the hospital, were handed 170 of the bonuses between 2006 and 2010.

The Clinical Excellence Awards were part of a bonus scheme intended to reward good treatment.

But they came at a time of 'appalling and unnecessary' suffering of people at the hospital in Weston Road, according to Sir Robert Francis QC independent inquiry.

The bonus awards were introduced by ministers in 2003. At the time, Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, said that the awards 'would recognise and reward those NHS consultants who do most for NHS patients'.

The trust was unable to provide a value of the awards – however, if the national average value of £18,860 were applied the total cost would be £3.2 million, said the Taxpayers' Alliance, which published the report.

Karen Howell, co-founder of Support Stafford Hospital group, said: "The money would have been better used to staff the wards properly, that should have come first.

"Standards, sufficient staff and proper patient care should come before bonuses. The money should have been spent directly on patient care."

Andrew Ashcroft, senior communication manager University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, would not comment on the figures, stating the trust only acquired part of the hospital trust, rather than the whole last year.

The Department of Health spokesman Paul Gough would not comment because he said the bonus scheme was locally run.

The report into the serious failings at the hospital from 2005 to 2009 was published in 2013 by Sir Robert Francis QC.

He said: "This is a story of appalling and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people."

Prime Minister David Cameron also raised the mistreatment of patients in the House Commons.

He said: "Hundreds of people suffered from the most appalling neglect and mistreatment.

"There were patients so desperate for water that they were drinking from dirty flower vases."

Services at the renamed County Hospital have been continuously downgraded since the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust was dissolved last year. The new University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust was created to run the hospital on November 1.

Accident and Emergency is no longer open 24 hours and some maternity services and paediatric services have been removed from the hospital. The children's inpatient services is now split between Royal Stoke University Hospital and New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

Campaigners are continuing to oppose the cuts and transfer of services, which include complicated births and urgent care, from the County Hospital to Royal Stoke University Hospital.

It is planned that more services will also move later this summer, with many patients are now forced to travel to Wolverhampton, Walsall, Stoke and Burton for major treatments. In the report published by the Tax Payers' Alliance, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trusts, staff were awarded almost £4 million between 2005 and 2012.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Tax Payers' Alliance, said: "It's shocking that as patients were being subjected to inhumane treatment at the hands of some staff, these trusts saw fit to dish out huge bonuses for supposed excellence.

"Public inquiries have been scathing of the scandalous care at these hospitals, and the awarding of cash rewards for staff shows that priorities were seriously mixed up. The government must take a very close look at this scheme and ensure that taxpayers' money never gets wasted on bonuses for staff while patients are suffering."

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