Former health boss gagged by watchdog

A second witness to the public inquiry into failures at Stafford Hospital has been gagged by the NHS watchdog.

Roger Davidson, the former head of external affairs at the Healthcare Commission, gave evidence to the Francis Inquiry yesterday.

But he only appeared at the hearing after chairman Robert Francis QC issued him with a subpoena in order to override a legal gagging order imposed by the Care Quality Commission, which replaced the HCC in 2009.

The gagging agreement specifically stops Mr Davidson from publicly criticising the CQC.

Dr Heather Wood, a former investigator for the HCC, was also gagged before she gave evidence last week.

Mr Davidson accepted that although the agreement he signed with the CQC did allow him to speak to the inquiry he said he wanted Mr Francis to issue a subpoena in order to avoid any "ambiguity" about why he was speaking out.

Mr Davidson told the inquiry of examples where the Department of Health had disagreed with the HCC and revealed details of a row which forced the chairman of the old watchdog to threaten to resign.

He said Sir Ian Kennedy had threatened to step down in 2007 unless he got a retraction from the then Health Secretary Alan Johnson after The Times was briefed by civil servants to criticise the HCC.

Mr Davidson revealed that he wanted the number of estimated deaths at Stafford Hospital to be included in the damning HCC report, saying the figures were important and could have been explained to the public.

He said: "My impression was that the Department of Health put significant pressure on Sir Ian Kennedy and Anna Walker (HCC chief executive) to take the estimated figures out." He said after the CQC was formed there was a "witch hunt" to get rid of the investigations team and described a meeting where the discussion was "about how to get rid of these people which I found extremely uncomfortable."