Learning from Mid Staffs

This afternoon, in the final sessions of oral evidence in the inquiry examining the Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will appear before parliament’s Health Committee. The Report into the abuses that took place at the Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009 and the way they were handled by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was published in early February, and Hunt will need to demonstrate that the government is already acting on its recommendations.

Hunt has called for a “radical overhaul” of the system in response to the Report. He has repeatedly stressed that the care provided by the NHS must be more compassionate, as can be seen in his new initiative to make nurses spend a year as support workers and health assistants before they can take a degree. One of the most damaging criticisms of the NHS in the wake of the scandal has been that it was more interested in covering up problems and protecting the system than looking after patients. Hunt has spoken of the “duty of candour,” and he will have to explain how the NHS will be better at responding to such abuses more quickly in the future, and how doctors and nurses can be held accountable for negligence

Robin Francis, chairman of the Inquiry, has said that the NHS needs a change in attitude, “from janitors to the secretary of state.” In his appearance today, Hunt has to appear to be leading that change. The question of how exactly the NHS will deliver care has great significance, as it touches upon concerns about Britain’s ageing population and how the state will be able to provide high-quality treatment without healthcare costs spiraling.