Stafford Hospital: A similar scandal 'will happen again'

Barrister Sir Robert Francis, whose report exposed the level of poor care at Weston Road over several years, has issued his damning verdict on the state of the NHS.

It comes on the back of the latest A&E figures revealing patient waiting times targets have plummeted to new lows across the country.

He said there was a growing 'disconnect' between what was said about health care nationally and what patients were experiencing in waiting rooms, hospital hallways and packed out wards.

Sir Robert added: "Let's make no bones about it, the NHS is facing an existential crisis.

"The service is running faster and faster to try and keep up and is failing, manifestly failing.

"The danger is that we reach a tipping point; we haven't reached it yet, but there will come a point where public confidence in the service dissipates."

Stafford Hospital, now renamed County Hospital and run by a different trust, was at the centre of a national NHS scandal in the late 2000s.

An investigation was launched by regulators after records showed there were up to 1,200 more deaths than expected between 2005 and 2009.

It led to the Government calling for a public inquiry, which was spearheaded by Sir Robert, whose report published in 2010 confirmed the fears of many patients and relatives revealing the full extent of substandard care.

Despite the report being hailed as a watershed moment for the NHS Sir Robert, who is non-executive director at the Care Quality Commission, has now said the possibility of the same happening again elsewhere is 'inevitable'.

Stafford Borough Councillor Christine Baron recalled the moment failings at Stafford Hospital were laid bare.

"I was devastated I really was," she said. "And sadly I think what happened at Mid Staffs has created this national epidemic of people jumping on the bandwagon at the slightest problem.

"There are problems in the NHS but they are problems that can be solved without confrontation."

In December the proportion of A&E patients across the country dealt with in four hours fell to 86 per cent – the lowest for years. However in Staffordshire in December fewer than one in four people, 74 per cent, were dealt with in four hours across two of the county's biggest hospitals, County Hospital and Royal Stoke.