Boss paid accountants to probe Stafford Hospital care

Former Stafford Hospital boss Martin Yeates used taxpayers' money to employ a firm of accountants to investigate standards of care at the same time as the Healthcare Commission, it has emerged.

The public inquiry into the appalling standards of care at the hospital heard that Mr Yeates, who resigned in May 2009, brought in PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2008 to carry out an investigation alongside the NHS watchdog. Officials from the watchdog complained about the study.

It is not clear how much the 76-page report cost but it was said to be a six-figure sum. Yesterday the former chief executive of the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority said she believed Mr Yeates covered up poor care at the hospital.

Cynthia Bower, who is now the boss at the new NHS watchdog the Care Quality Commission, was asked whether the strategic health authority, which she led at the time, paid for the PwC study.

She said it did not but the local primary care trust has also denied paying for it. The inquiry was shown a letter by Dr Heather Wood at the Healthcare Commission to Mr Yeates in July 2008 warning the PwC study had "the potential to undermine or interfere" with the HCC's investigation.

In the letter Dr Wood told Mr Yeates: "We are concerned about the considerable potential for unnecessary duplication of work and the additional pressure that this will put on staff at the trust." She also warned of a potential for "considerable distraction for staff at all levels".

Chairman of the inquiry Robert Francis QC asked Mrs Bower whether she thought it was a "defensive move" by Martin Yeates.

She said it was a move to "protect his position" saying: "I remember Martin Yeates was keen to try and reassure people both that services in the hospital were safe and that he was doing everything he possibly could to respond appropriately to the issues that were being raised with him by the Healthcare Commission.

"I subsequently arrived at the view that Martin was covering up for poor care.

"I've never known of anyone commissioning a firm of accountants to come and help them on the quality of care, frankly."