Patients were "routinely neglected" at an NHS hospital after
management became preoccupied with cost-cutting and targets, an
independent report has concluded.
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."
Patients were left unwashed, at times for up to a month, and
food and drinks were left out of reach of patients, the inquiry
found.
Mr Francis also identified a chronic shortage of staff,
particularly nurses, as being largely responsible for the
sub-standard care give to patients.
He also said that while many staff did their best in difficult
circumstances, others showed a disturbing lack of compassion to
patients.