Inquiry into Mid-Staffs hospital to put spotlight on organisations with monitoring role

A full public inquiry into failings at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust – announced by the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, yesterday – is to examine the role of commissioning, supervisory and regulatory bodies in monitoring of the trust.

The Department of Health said the inquiry would “seek to expose how events at the trust went undetected and unchallenged for so long” by these organisations.

The inquiry will be chaired by Robert Francis QC, who also handled the first independent inquiry into the Stafford Hospital’s problems, and have the power to compel witnesses to attend and speak under oath.

The bodies to be scrutinised by the inquiry include:

• The Department of Health
• The local strategic health authority
• The local Primary Care Trust(s)
• The Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts (Monitor)
• The Care Quality Commission
• The Health and Safety Executive
• Local scrutiny and engagement bodies, and
• The local Coroner.

The terms of reference call for the inquiry to identify the lessons to be drawn from such an examination as to how in the future the NHS and the bodies that regulate it can ensure that failing and potentially failing hospitals or their services are identified as soon as practicable.

Francis will be allowed to appoint an expert panel with expertise in regulatory systems and NHS management to support the inquiry’s work.

In March this year the Local Government Association called for primary care trusts and hospitals to be made accountable to local authorities in the wake of Francis’ first report, which revealed a catalogue of failures at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and March 2009.

Regulators had previously decided that more than 400 people had died at the hospital than would have been expected.

The Health Secretary has asked for a report to be delivered by March 2011.

Lansley said: “We know only too well what happened at this hospital – what we need to know is how and why. A full public inquiry will shed light on uninvestigated areas and help us to understand and learn from them.”

The minister also announced measures to strengthen protection for NHS staff who whistle blow. These include reinforcing rights and responsibilities for staff and employers in the NHS Constitution, issuing new guidance to the NHS stating that contracts of employment should cover whistle blowing, and supporting staff who raise concerns.