No show for Martin Yeates at Stafford Hospital inquiry

Former hospital boss Martin Yeates will not appear at the public inquiry into Stafford Hospital – but ex-chairman Toni Brisby will give evidence via a video link.

Mr Yeates will finally break his silence with a written statement which will be read out in public at the inquiry on Monday, October 3, it has been announced.

The statement was prepared in response to questions from the inquiry but Mr Yeates, who is said to be too ill, will not attend. Mrs Brisby will give evidence and answer questions on the same day.

Her appearance was scheduled after inquiry chairman Robert Francis QC rejected claims she was not well enough to appear.

He did agree that giving evidence in the normal way could pose a risk to her health and has allowed her to give evidence via a video link.

The appearance of Mrs Brisby and the statement from Mr Yeates is a key victory for relatives and patients who have been battling to hold the pair to account since March 2009.

Mr Yeates 'stepped aside' from his role just days before the damning Healthcare Commission report was made public while Mrs Brisby resigned as chairman of the Mid Staffordshire Trust.

Since then neither have spoken publicly about what happened at the hospital, where hundreds of patients suffered appalling care.

Mr Yeates eventually resigned in May 2009 and received £80,000 notice pay and a rumoured £360,000 pension payout.

During the course of the public inquiry it has emerged Mr Yeates tried to get more money before resigning and was hoping to continue working in the NHS even once the scale of the disaster was clear.

Mrs Brisby gave evidence to Robert Francis' first inquiry, which was held in secret in 2010, where she refused to accept the Healthcare Commission's report.

Julie Bailey, founder of Cure the NHS, said: "We are disappointed they are not going to give evidence in public like other witnesses have, but it is still a victory for us.

We have had to fight to get them to give evidence and it will be an opportunity for Mrs Brisby to give us an explanation as to why our relatives died in that hospital on her watch."