Inquiry demand into hospital scandal

A demand for a public inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal is to be sent to the health secretary by Cannock Chase Council.

The authority is throwing its weight behind the campaign for a review.

The aim is to examine standards of care at the hospital after the Healthcare Commission report earlier this year said there had been at least 400 avoidable deaths between 2005 and 2008.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has said there will be no public inquiry but the council will ask for that decision to be overturned after a request from councillor Tony Williams, whose father died at the hospital in June 2006.

Councillor Williams said his family did not question the death of Raymond Williams, aged 76, at the time but the revelations contained in the report have left them wondering if more could have been done to save him.

He said: "When he died after another heart attack in 2006, we accepted it because of his medical history and his age.

"But because of the scandal, like hundreds of other families, we are asking ourselves if more could have been done or if something went wrong."

Chief executive Stephen Brown will lodge a formal request on behalf of the council asking for a public inquiry.