THE man at the centre of the Stafford Hospital enquiry admitted he thought about taking his own life after the scandal broke.

Martin Yeates, former chief executive of the hospital where standards of care were found to be appalling, said he had lost his career, family and health.

Mr Yeates, deemed too ill to attend the inquiry, gave his account of events in a 51-page witness statement which was read out.

He said: “I put my life and soul into improving and turning the organisation from one that was failing to one that had a bright challenging future.

“In retrospect, my family, friends, colleagues, my home, my health and my career have been broken irretrievably from the time at Stafford.”

Mr Yeates made repeated claims that the hospital had ‘turned the corner’ when the Health Commission’s investigation in 2008 stopped progress.

The Commission reported that hundreds of patients may have died needlessly at the hospital between 2005 and 2009.