Cameron in new hospital pledge

David Cameron pledged to do everything in his power to get a public inquiry into Stafford Hospital after hearing the "harrowing" stories of ex-patients and their relatives.

The Tory leader promised a Conservative government would make huge changes to the NHS during his visit to Stafford late yesterday by slashing targets and focusing on patient feedback.

He spent more than an hour listening to members of Cure the NHS in campaign group founder Julie Bailey's cafe on Newport Road, before saying an investigation "absolutely independent" from the hospital, the Government and "the whole system" was needed.

Adding his name to Cure the NHS' petition calling for an inquiry, he said the move would help find out exactly why conditions in Stafford Hospital got so bad, its standards of care were branded "appalling" by the Healthcare Commission's recent report and blamed for hundreds of unnecessary deaths.

Addressing around two dozen campaigners, he praised them for their efforts. Mr Cameron said: "If it hadn't been for all of you coming together and putting this information together it wouldn't have come out. Thank you for coming in and telling me these stories again because it's not an easy thing to do. It's been very important to come and listen directly to what you've been saying.

Mr Cameron said his disabled son Ivan, who died in February, had received "wonderful care" from the NHS. "I know how good the NHS can be at its best," he said. However, he said he realised Stafford, Cannock and Rugeley patients had been denied the same experience.

He vowed: "We will fight for the public inquiry which you so obviously deserve. We're in the middle of this terrible recession but it's important for us politicians to remember that the NHS is the number one issue for the British public."

Mr Cameron also branded claims made by Stafford's Labour MP David Kidney, whose seat he contested in the 1997 general election, that he was in danger of turning the issue into a "political football" as "rubbish". Mr Cameron told the Express & Star: "He (Mr Kidney) should welcome the fact that I'm going to put some pressure on the Government to get the inquiry he has also called for."

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley also visited to Stafford for the second time since the Healthcare Commission's report was released. Earlier in the day, he joined Jeremy Lefroy – the Conservative's prospective parliamentary candidate for Stafford – on a visit to Hazeldine Doctors' surgery, serving Great and Little Haywood to canvass the views of local GPs.

Mr Cameron was welcomed to Stafford by fellow Conservatives Judith Dalgarno, the leader of Stafford Borough Council, and Councillor Mike Heenan, the authority's cabinet member for resources and the boss of Stafford Railway Building Society.