Report into chief exec cost £17,500

The Trust commissioned NHS chief executive Peter Garland to undertake the report following failings at the hospital which is currently in the process of an inquiry.

However the town's MP David Kidney claimed today the outcome of the report was unsatisfactory and reiterated his call for Mr Yeates to give evidence in person to the inquiry.

Mr Kidney said: "The £17,500 is money that has been spent on our behalf to get a result that no-one was satisfied with."

He said that it showed that the old board had been weak and slow to respond. "It allowed the former chief executive to spend time on full pay while it carried out an investigation and allowed him to resign before he could be disciplined. It is one more example of why that board had to go."

Mr Kidney said that he still believed Mr Yeates should give evidence to the current inquiry being carried out by Robert Francis QC.

"I expect Mr Francis to require him to come and give evidence," he added.

Antony Sumara, chief executive of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, confirmed the cost to the Trust for the report.

He said: "Following receipt in March 2009 of the Heathcare Commission's report of their investigation into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, the Trust commissioned Mr Peter Garland to undertake an investigation into the conduct and performance of the former chief executive.

"The remuneration board felt it was necessary for an independent review to be carried out before they made a decision about the former chief executive's future with the Trust."

The report which was released under the Freedom of Information Act blame Mr Yeates for a series of failures, errors and misjudgements. The document painted the picture of a hospital whose management, in an effort to balance the books and hit targets, made stinging cuts in nursing staff without considering how this might affect the patients.

This happened in an environment where senior bosses were "not challenged" and the board of directors were given misleading information.

Against a backdrop of poor governance the hospital's standards continued to fall and bosses, who failed to see the reality of the situation, simply put the shocking death rates down to "data errors".

Mr Yeates has never spoken publicly about what happened at the hospital after he "stepped aside" from his role just days before the damning Healthcare Commission report came out.