Protesters bid to lift inquiry secrecy

As the terms of the independent inquiry into the scandal at Stafford Hospital were launched, it was already being dismissed by health campaigners who are now seeking a judicial review in a bid to get a full public investigation.

Solicitors Leigh Day & Co, acting on behalf of Cure the NHS, plan to apply for two judicial reviews in October in a bid to get a public inquiry. One will be targeted at Health Secretary Andy Burnham for his refusal to call a full public inquiry.

The other will be directed at Robert Francis QC for the way he has interpreted the terms of reference for his inquiry.

Richard Stein, of Leigh Day & Co, said: "It's extremely disappointing for patients and for bereaved relatives that it's going to be a narrow, private process rather than the open, public and all-embracing one that the people of Stafford need and deserve."

Campaigners have expressed their disappointment that the inquiry will be held in private.

Dozens of relatives and former patients of Stafford Hospital attended a private meeting with Mr Francis yesterday where they attacked the way he plans to conduct the probe.

Families held up posters of current and ex-hospital staff, MPs, ministers and NHS chiefs, labelling them as "guilty" for the "Stafford Hospital disaster."

Many members of Cure the NHS who have fought for two years to get the poor standards of care at Stafford Hospital recognised want the inquiry to examine the systems and failure of NHS bodies such as the primary care trust and the health authority to recognise what was happening at Stafford.

Cure the NHS founder Julie Bailey, whose mother Bella died in the hospital in 2007, said the inquiry was a whitewash and condemned Mr Francis for the narrow view the investigation will take.

She said: "It definitely is a whitewash and we are hugely disappointed.

"The fact it is behind closed doors and the press are not allowed in means people will give evidence and a transcript will be kept, but no-one will ever see it or hear it. We think the hospital tell untruths and they will tell untruths to him.

"From talking with Robert Francis I think it is just going to go over old ground, and nothing new will come out of it.

"People want to tell their stories and they want answers in public."

Ms Bailey added: "This campaign will not stop here and we are not going to stop until we get a full public inquiry. We don't even really know how many people died."