Former Stafford Hospital chief may miss inquiry

Former health boss Martin Yeates is set to miss the public inquiry into Stafford Hospital - after being too ill to attend the previous probe.

His health was described as "fragile" by solicitor Andrew Hodge, who said he would probably not be giving evidence at next month's hearings.

News came after the Express & Star revealed a secret report on poor care at the hospital concluded Mr Yeates should have been disciplined and that he may have attended a Teaching English as a Foreign Language Course in Birmingham in July this year.

Mr Yeates was chief executive of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, and head of the hospital, from 2005 to 2009 — when a Healthcare Commission investigation suggested 400-1,200 patients may have died due to poor care.

The Garland's report said: "The chief executive had a pre-eminent role in the leadership of the trust as his job description made clear and must bear a commensurately large share of the responsibility for these failures in leadership and management."

It added: "This analysis suggests that a prima facie case for instigating disciplinary proceedings can be made." The hospital agreed £80,000 in notice pay and a six-figure pension lump sum.

Mr Hodge said Mr Yeates was a scapegoat and said of campaign group Cure the NHS: "I have a lot of respect for Cure the NHS because we need democracy but I don't think they ever gave him the opportunity for a fair hearing and he's a relatively easy target.

"In saying he's a scapegoat, what I mean is there are lots and lots of people and agencies who unwittingly and with the best of intentions worked together to make Stafford Hospital fail and when it went wrong he was the man in the hot seat."

He said Mr Yeates' health was "shattered" by publicity around the crisis and that he wished he could attend. Any appearance would depend on being asked and what medical evidence was at the time. Officials at the inquiry, due to start in October have said it would be "inappropriate" to comment on individual circumstances and will not say if Mr Yeates will appear.

Cure the NHS founder Julie Bailey said: "We are very unhappy with the comments. It is fundamental that Martin Yeates appears at the public inquiry. There were people going through intense psychiatric treatments who attended the Francis inquiry earlier this year."

"We know just one person was not responsible for what has happened. That's why we did not want to engage with them — it is the role of our MPs to do that."