The exhaustive Healthcare Commission report is both definitive and damning. In A&E, emergency admissions and medical wards 10,11 and 12 care standards were unacceptable during the three year period investigated.

As a result, some patients experienced intolerable conditions and lessons were not learned by the hospital trust from those experiences. So more patients suffered.

BBC coverage

Failing Hospital Caused Deaths

What are the lessons for the NHS

Key Problems

It is galling for patients and patients’ relatives and carers that their complaints were not believed or were fobbed off with excuses and promises that the report shows were worthless. The Commission’s report shows that their testimony is verified, their judgements of what was wrong vindicated.

So as the hospital trust and others take action to improve care standards, the views of patients, their relatives and carers will be invaluable. We must listen to them.

The Commissions report

The Trust's response

Monitor

As the Commission’s recommendations make clear the hospital’s culture has to become open and learning. This means sharing more information with patients and the public, listening to other points of view and involving hospital staff in making decisions.

I want to say something else about the hospital staff.  Although there are some criticisms of individual staff actions in the report, the criticism is mostly about the systems. Indeed, the report shows that many hospital services are fine: outpatients, elective care (although there are some criticisms of surgery and post-surgery care), acute coronary unit and critical care unit.

Minister Apologises

Call for support for staff

The vast majority of staff are dedicated and hard-working. Their morale is bound to be low at the end of this investigation. They need our support as they implement the report’s recommendations on staffing levels, training and work practices. The Commission says that as a result of actions already taken they now believe the A&E is safe, although they intend to remain watchful that recent progress has been sustained.

All the remaining recommendations are achievable quickly. In part this is because the Healthcare Commission identified failings during its investigation and required the trust to start putting them right straight away. The trust has already taken action and this explains why the Commission has been able to describe improvements at the hospital during the last year.

A Historical perspective

A round up of Background information

For this work to succeed, it is vital that everyone stays engaged as the recommendations are put into effect. We must make sure that our healthcare regulators act quickly and decisively in response to concerns raised by patients whenever and wherever this happens. We must make sure that staffing levels are maintained, care standards are always high and the culture of openness and learning is second to none.

The NHS is an institution trusted and relied on by us all. This report regrettably tells us that at Stafford hospital the NHS fell below acceptable standards of care over a period of time. I believe that with the actions to be taken and constant monitoring, proper standards will be restored for all patients all of the time.

Alan Johnsons statement to the house of commons