Yesterday Richard Stein and Merry Varney of the Human Rights Department spoke at a public meeting in Stafford organised by Cure the NHS. The meeting was attended by over 100 members of the public, who came to hear from local MPs, Julie Bailey of Cure the NHS, and other organisations, as well as an update from Leigh Day & Co on the various work we are doing to assist Cure the NHS and people affected by the appalling treatment and substandard care delivered by Stafford Hospital.

Obtaining redress for patients and families

Frances Swaine and Merry Varney have been contacted by over 80 former patients and the families of individuals who died in Stafford Hospital. Each person has horrendous stories of neglect, misdiagnosis, substandard care and degrading treatment. As Merry explained at the public meeting, we are looking at each of these to advise on the possibility of individual legal actions, ranging from negligence actions and judicial reviews of a the Coroner to advising on referrals to regulatory bodies, and we are also looking at the possibility of a group action to seek a Declaration from the Court that the treatment these individuals and their loved ones suffered constituted degrading treatment and violated their right to personal dignity.
 
We are being contacted by more affected people everyday both directly and via Cure the NHS. You can download a leaflet with general information (which includes information about types of legal actions, funding legal actions and other avenues of redress) and a contact form here. Merry and other colleagues will also be running a legal clinic in Stafford on 12 May 2009 from 2pm to 8pm to discuss individual queries with those who have contacted us and anyone else who wishes to come along. Further details in relation to the venue will be posted on this website shortly.

Public Inquiry

Richard Stein provided people with an update on the judicial review which is being taken by Julie Bailey and Chris Dalziel against the Secretary of State for his refusal to hold a public inquiry into the tragic events at  Stafford  Hospital.

The Secretary of State has told Leigh Day  & Co  that he is currently considering whether a public inquiry is necessary. He has informed us that he wishes to consider the contents of two reports he commissioned before making a final decision. These two reports are: (1) a review by Dr Colin-Thome to identify what GPs and PCTs across England can and should learn from Stafford and (2) a review by Professor Alberti to examine the Trust's current procedures for emergency admissions and treatment, and its progress towards implementing the recommendations made by the Commission. A copy of both these documents and the government’s response are attached to this page.

Ms Bailey and Ms Dalziel, supported by Cure the NHS, do not believe that these reports provide the Secretary of State with a lawful  justification to refuse  to hold  a public inquiry. Both were undertaken in private and did not properly involve the public or those affected by the “appalling standards of care” found at the Hospital. Neither provided a proper and detailed description of exactly what happened at the Hospital ;  why the Trust failed to properly and safely care for patients or the reasons why the “appalling standards” were allowed to continue for so long. Neither established the extent of the impact of the failures at Stafford, for example, the number of deaths and the number of cases of neglect/inadequate/degrading treatment and neither considered whether the pursuit of foundation trust status or imposition of NHS targets contributed to the failures. For all these reasons and many more, our clients continue to believe that the only proper and lawful manner in which to investigate and truly understand what happened at the Trust and why is to hold a public inquiry. It is only through such a process that lessons for other NHS bodies and the Department of Health can be learnt from this tragic case.

The overwhelming majority of those attending the meeting agreed, with Bill Cash MP, David Kidney MP, AvMA, the Patients Association and Cure the NHS all calling for the Secretary of State to confirm a public inquiry will take place as a matter of priority.

Leigh Day  & Co  will continue to correspond with the Secretary of State about this matter and copies of  our  letters will be provided on this website in due course.

For more information please refer to the linked webpages indicated or contact Rosa Curling or Merry Varney on 020 7650 1200.