Stafford Hospital boss: Cash should be for patients

Public money being spent by Stafford Hospital to prepare for a major inquiry could be better used caring for patients, according to hospital bosses.

Chief executive Antony Sumara has said the hospital is working hard to get ready for the public inquiry into poor care standards, which is set to begin in October.

But he added the pressure on staff had created an "enormous workload."

He said the cost of employing a barrister to represent the hospital at the inquiry was hugely expensive but that the hospital had no choice but to spend the money.

The hospital has now been granted core participant status by Robert Francis QC — who will chair the inquiry — which means it can take part in the proceedings.

So far, more than 500 pieces of separate documentation have been sent to the inquiry team, which focus on the hospital's link with outside agencies and regulators.

The public inquiry is focused on trying to learn why those bodies meant to regulate the hospital failed to spot or act on concerns about patient care.

The documents are thought to include minutes from meetings between the hospital and the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority and PCT as well as other bodies.

Mr Sumara said: "Robert Francis said he didn't want the public inquiry to detract or to get us away from the main focus of continuing to improve the hospital.

"It has created an enormous workload.

"We believed we would not necessarily have a great deal of involvement because it is an inquiry about the external regulators.

"The costs of employing counsel are going to have to be paid by the trust.

"It is extremely expensive. It is public money that would be better spent caring for patients."

He said the trust had no alternative but to spend the cash, adding: "It's not what we would want to do."

Julie Bailey founder of Cure the NHS, said the group had yet to learn whether it would have legal funding for the inquiry but she said it was good news that the inquiry was getting information from the hospital.

She said: "We need to expose all the facts about everything that happened otherwise we will never learn the lessons. We always felt there was more that could come out of the hospital. It is money well spent if it means we find out what went wrong."