• Probe into deaths at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust
  • Public inquiry will say trust run under culture of fear, bullying and secrecy

By Daily Mail Reporter

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The head of the NHS is facing calls to resign over his role in one of the worst hospital scandals in history.

Sir David Nicholson helped appoint the chief executive who presided over Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust at a time when up to 1,200 patients died through neglect.

He is one of numerous executives who prospered despite their links to the scandal, described yesterday by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt as a 'shocking betrayal of NHS founding values'.

Scandal: A public inquiry will to recommend hospitals are fined or closed if they cover-up blunders in the wake of the tragedy at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which was responsible for the deaths of up to 1,200 patients

Scandal: A public inquiry will to recommend hospitals are fined or closed if they cover-up blunders in the wake of the tragedy at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which was responsible for the deaths of up to 1,200 patients

Today Sir David, who was appointed chief executive of the NHS in 2006, earns more than 200,000 a year.

Between 400 and 1,200 patients are thought to have died at Stafford hospital from 2005 to 2008, with some left so thirsty they were forced to drink water from vases next to their beds.

Later this month a report will call for sweeping changes to the Health Service to ensure such a disaster cannot happen again.

It will describe a 'culture of fear' at Mid Staffordshire, which runs two hospitals, Stafford and Cannock Chase, with managers more obsessed with meeting targets than protecting patients.

In January 2006 Sir David, at the time head of a regional health authority, was on a panel of NHS managers that interviewed Mr Yeates and appointed him as full-time chief executive of the trust.

The decision was made even though Mr Yeates had no formal management training. He resigned in 2009 and received a reported 400,000 pay-off.

But the career of Sir David – a member of the Communist Party until 1983 – has blossomed. He was also recently appointed chief executive of the NHS Commissioning Board, a new body that will oversee hospitals and GP services.

Although he is expected to be heavily criticised in the forthcoming report, it is unlikely that he will be sacked as he is such a powerful figure in the Health Service.

Arthur Peacham, 68, (left) died of C.difficile at Stafford Hospital after being left on filthy wards. Joan Giles, 81, (right) died after suffering severe bed sores

But relatives of patients who died say he must resign or be sacked because his position is untenable.

Julie Bailey, who helped expose Stafford hospital's failings following the death of her mother Bella and started the campaign group Cure the NHS, said: 'Our relatives suffered at the hands of these professionals. Nobody spoke out and nobody was there to protect them.'

Not a single nurse or doctor working at the hospital at the time has been struck off.

The Mail understands that 37 nurses were referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, but 25 were not deemed to have done wrong. Another 11 are still having their cases considered by the watchdog, nearly five years later. One was handed a three-month suspension, but she was already planning to retire.

While 41 doctors were referred to their regulator, the General Medical Council, not one has yet been struck off.

The failings at Mid Staffordshire emerged in March 2009 in a report by the Healthcare Commission which described how sick and dying patients were 'routinely neglected', 'inhumanely treated' and 'bullied'.

Its findings prompted a public inquiry lasting two years, chaired by Robert Francis QC.

He will present his findings later this month and is expected to call for sweeping changes to the NHS, including better regulation of managers and an overhaul of nurses' training.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

Surely what the NHS needs is not more managers, but more nurses, more health care staff to take care of patients' personal needs while in hospital, more and better cleaners and perhaps - dare I say it - a return to the days of matrons on every ward?

Sack the Managers but don't close the hospital!

So if NHS staff make mistakes it's the general population that will suffer by having their nearest hospital closed? What a daft suggestion.

This is wrong, it punishes the tax-payers and patients. Instead those who managed this failure should be jailed.

fining the nhs just takes money away from patients. those senior managers/directors who earn 100k + a year should be personally fined instead. and not just them , but senior managers/directors from other areas such as the bbc (instead of fining licence payers) and the big utility firms (where any fine is just passed onto its customers). closing hospitals not only inconveniences local people, but can also put lives at risk.

this must surely be the tip of the iceberg amongst some good staff a mountain of NHS staff hiding behind a myriad of prejudices, lack of reflection or knowledge and who rely on one way zero tolerance when things go wrong and blame the patients and their families. We should have police in these places to protect the public.

Won't stop the incompetant NHS mangers and others getting a golden handshake and then moving on the merry-go-round to lucrative jobs at other NHS hospitals will it!

Please dont close hospitals. Instead,sack all the useless,overpaid non medically qualified managers and their armies of paper pushers,co-ordinaters etc etc. None of them are essential for patients medical care whatsoever. The money saved can then be used to employ caring qualified staff. These trusts were and still are the biggest mistake ever made in the NHS.

Please start with Stafford hospital....i had the misfortune to go to their A&E department a few years ago...and i will never forget the appaling attitude and treatment i received there.....absolute disgrace.

Actually the MANAGERS should face fines. Why should the 'TRUST' (ie taxpayer) pay??????

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