BMA fears over hospitals
The pressures which led to patients dying needlessly at Stafford Hospital could be happening elsewhere in the NHS, doctors have warned.
A damning Healthcare Commission report published in March condemned "appalling" and "shocking" standards of care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
Inspectors discovered A&E reception staff being forced to assess patients and a lack of nursing staff which contributed to poor patient care.
Yesterday doctors attending the British Medical Association's (BMA) annual conference in Liverpool voted unanimously in favour of a motion saying they were "seriously concerned" that other hospitals could be experiencing similar problems.
The motion said doctors deplored "trusts being driven by perverse competitive targets" as they try to achieve foundation trust status – a supposed mark of excellence.
BMA chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum said the association suspected Mid Staffs was not an isolated case.
Some hospitals were too focused on Government targets and financial problems rather than the "basic job" of good patient care, he said.
"If you are working very hard trying to do your best, you can get dragged into that, you don't stand back and say 'actually the services we are giving patients are not up to the mark, something needs to be done to address them'."
He said doctors needed to tell somebody if they had concerns and trusts needed to act upon those rather than just file them "away somewhere".
Dr George Rae, a GP and chairman of the north eastern regional BMA council, said one of the main reasons for such problems was the Government's drive to introduce market reforms, which create competition in the NHS.
"To really compete in the hospital sector you have to become a foundation trust and, of course, the main reason why Mid Staffs was cutting costs was to eliminate its debt as its top priority was the achievement of foundation trust status," he said.
"The pressures at Mid Staffs are present up and down England – the risks are elsewhere.
Dr Rae also called for an end to the "culture of anxiety" and fear which prevented NHS staff raising concerns about patient care.
Between 400 and 1,200 more people died than would have been expected in a three-year period at Mid Staffs, which runs both Stafford and Cannock hospitals.
