Report into Stafford Hospital condemns patient 'neglect'
Patients were "routinely neglected" at an NHS hospital after management became preoccupied with cost-cutting and targets, an independent report concluded today.
The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stafford Hospital, lost sight of its responsibility to provide safe care, the damning report found.
The probe was launched into events at Stafford Hospital after another report last March from the Healthcare Commission revealed a catalogue of failings at the trust, which also runs Cannock Chase Hospital.
Appalling standards of care put many patients at risk, and between 400 and 1,200 more people died than would have been expected in a three-year period from 2005 to 2008, the commission found.
Today, inquiry chairman Robert Francis QC made 18 recommendations for both the trust and the government in his final report after hearing evidence from more than 900 patients and families.
But Julie Bailey, who founded the campaign group Cure The NHS after the death of her mother at the hospital, described the report as "absolutely outrageous", adding: "All he's done is recommended another independent inquiry."
Mr Francis, presenting his report at a press conference near Stafford, said: "I heard so many stories of shocking care. These patients were not simply numbers, they were husbands, wives, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandparents.
"They were people who entered Stafford Hospital and rightly expected to be well cared for and treated.
"Instead many suffered horrific experiences that will haunt them and their loved ones for the rest of their lives."
