The costs of using agency workers to fill in for staff off sick at the trust running Stafford Hospital is costing £200,000 a month, bosses have revealed.

The new man at the helm of the trust that runs the hospitals in Cannock and Stafford today said his role was “one of the most important jobs in the NHS” as he vowed to restore round-the-clock A&E “as soon as possible”.

A plea by Cannock councillors for an audience with Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to discuss the overnight closure of Stafford Hospital’s A&E department has been snubbed by the minister, it was revealed today.

A solicitor has been awarded a six-figure sum after health bosses conceded she had been wrongfully dismissed from her job at the trust that runs Stafford Hospital.

Stafford Hospital’s bosses have revealed that they are unlikely to make the original three-month deadline for reopening the A&E department on a full-time basis.

Staff sickness rates that were concerning bosses at Stafford Hospital are gradually being brought down, latest figures have revealed.

Councils are causing thousands of cases of bed blocking in the region’s hospitals, it emerged today. Social services departments are failing to quickly carry out assessments and get places at care homes ready for patients.

Hospitals across the Black Country and Staffordshire are gearing up to cope with outbreaks of the winter vomiting bug norovirus.

Car parking charges at Stafford Hospital could be increased as health bosses look to save hundreds of thousands of pounds in the next three months to meet financial targets.

More than 100 people had to wait more than a year for treatment at hospitals across the Midlands, despite the figure halving nationally new figures have revealed.