Cure the NHS will be holding a public meeting on 5 May 2009 to discuss the Secretary of State’s announcement to defer his decision of whether to hold a public inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust).
 
Richard Stein and Rosa Curling instructed by Julie Bailey and Chris Dalziel of Cure the NHS wrote a letter before action to the Secretary of State on 27 March 2009 stating that his decision not to hold a public inquiry into the Trust was unlawful under Article 2 and 3 of the Human Rights Act.
 
Ms Bailey and Ms Dalziel argue that a public inquiry is required in order to examine exactly what caused the “appalling standards of care” found at the Trust why it failed to put in place systems to ensure patients were cared for safely. Amongst the questions/issues they consider the inquiry needs to address are: 
 
(1)                 To establish the extent of the impact of the failures at Stafford Hospital
a.       The number of deaths
b.      The number of cases of neglect/inadequate treatment
(2)                 How the Trust achieved both 3 star rating and foundation trust status during a period when the Healthcare Commission has now stated the standards of care were “appalling”?
(3)                 Did the pursuit of foundation trust status contribute to the failures? If so how should these processes be changed to avoid repetition?
(4)                 Did the imposition of NHS targets, including financial, contribute to the failures by the Trust?  If so how should these processes be changed to avoid repetition?
(5)                 What factors should have alerted regulators and others to the fact that there was a serious crisis at Stafford Hospital? Which bodies should have been alerted, when and what action should have been taken? Did all the bodies have the relevant powers to be able to take timely & effective action to limit/avert the crisis?
(6)                 Was the NHS Complaints procedure adequate in ensuring that patients’ complaints were dealt with adequately? Do recent changes to the process remedy any deficiencies?
(7)                 Why did none of the clinicians either at Stafford Hospital or wider raise concerns about failures at the Trust? Are there measures which need to be taken to ensure this valuable safeguard is in place?
 
In response, the Secretary of State has stated that he has not yet made a final decision about whether to hold a public inquiry. He states that he wishes to consider the reports from Dr Colin-Thome and Dr Alberti along with some further information about individual cases before making deciding whether such an inquiry is required.
 
Leigh Day responded to this letter on 30 April 2009 stating that they would wait for the Secretary of State’s further decision before issuing proceedings. However, it confirmed that if the Secretary of State were to decide again not to hold a public inquiry, Ms Bailey and Ms Dalziel will have no option but to issue proceedings without further delay.
 
A copy of the correspondence sent between the Secretary of State and Leigh Day along with a copy of the reports from Dr Colin-Thome, Dr Alberti and the government’s response are attached to this webpage.
 
For further information please contact Rosa Curling on 020 7650 1200.