Health minister to meet patients
Health Secretary Alan Johnson has agreed to visit Stafford to meet patients and medical staff in the wake of the damning report on the town's general hospital.
Both Mr Johnson and Gordon Brown apologised in the Commons yesterday for what the Health Secretary called the "inexcusable" failings at the hospital exposed in this week's report by the Healthcare Commission.
Mr Johnson faced a series of questions as to how Stafford Hospital attained a three-star performance rating and was given self-governing foundation status despite its dreadful record of patient care and high patient death rates.
Stafford MP David Kidney told the Commons that the Healthcare Commission report was not clear about why the hospital attracted the highest performance rating and was made a foundation hospital just last year.
"The big challenge now is to get the hospital performing to the right standard every day for every patient while totally reconstituting the trust," said the Labour MP.
Mr Kidney urged Mr Johnson to "lead from the front and come to Stafford to meet people in the hospital and talk to the patients' groups".
Mr Johnson replied: "I will be very pleased to come and meet the patients and representative patient groups at Stafford."
He said he wanted to discuss proposals put forward for the hospital "so that I can be assured that there is nothing else that we can do to put their minds at rest".
Stone Tory MP Bill Cash said he was "surprised and appalled" by the Government's plans for five separate reviews rather than a full public inquiry.
Tony Wright, Labour MP for Cannock Chase, said the report into the hospital was "shocking and shaming", and said his files were full of cases describing basic lack of care.
He said it was "beyond belief" that a hospital with "sky-high" mortality and complaints did not routinely discuss quality of care at board level. Lichfield Conservative MP Michael Fabricant said it was to his "great regret" that he had been "fobbed off" when he made inquiries after being told by a paramedic in 1999 that it was far better to go to Burton than to Stafford Hospital.
Wolverhampton South West MP Rob Marris said: "We have too many senior managers in the NHS who are incompetent and not being fired."
