GPs shun us admits hospital's new chief

Eight GP surgeries have stopped sending patients to Stafford Hospital in light of the scandal over standards of patient care, it has emerged.

Antony Sumara, chief executive of Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, has told the Express & Star he is confident of getting their business back if he can raise confidence in the hospital's services. He has also described improvements in the hospital in recent months as fragile, and revealed he still had some concerns which needed to be addressed.

In an interview with the Express & Star on the final day of the independent inquiry into events at the hospital, Mr Sumara said he believed a public inquiry could be a "diversion" for staff if a campaign to force one was successful.

He said a public inquiry, which could last as long as two years, would be like "looking in the rearview mirror" and whilst it would not affect patient care he said it would bring more emphasis on the negative events of the past few years instead of the improvements that were happening now.

Mr Sumara, who was appointed in August to turn the hospital around, said the trust had seen a drop in business from around eight GPs which had affected the income to the hospital.

He said there could be many reasons why those GPs were not sending their patients to Stafford, but he said he plans to visit each of them with the hospital's medical director to discuss their issues and find out what has happened.

Mr Sumara said he was now getting fewer complaints and more positive comments and said it felt "like a normal hospital" now. But he warned against complacency and said there was still work to be done.

This year the trust is predicting a £2.2 million deficit by the year end and is in a formal dispute with cash-rich South Staffordshire PCT to claw back all of that cash which it says it is owed.

Mr Sumara said the hospital's finances were sound, but he admitted that in the medium term cash problems could threaten the improvements at the hospital.

He added: "We will get it back in the black."