RCN welcomes new inquiry into failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust

Published: 21 July 2009

For immediate use: 21st July 2009

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) today (21 July) commented on the announcement by Health Secretary Rt. Hon Andy Burnham MP of a new independent inquiry into the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said:

"I am delighted that Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham MP, like the Health Select Committee, has listened to what the RCN have been saying on this issue. We have been calling for a full independent inquiry which hears evidence in private but reports publicly for some time.

"It is vital that we fully understand why patients were so severely let down and staff concerns were not listened to. The inquiry must aim to encourage current and former staff and patients to come forward with evidence in the knowledge that they will be free to give frank testimony, and that action will be taken on the issues they raise. In particular, the inquiry must have the power to call those who were senior managers at the time of the problems to give a fuller picture of what went wrong.

"The horrendous problems at Mid Staffordshire were a result of many elements from dangerously low staffing levels to poor procedures for acting on problems raised by staff. We welcome the inquiry as a means of ensuring that the deep rooted problems are tackled, but the inquiry must not prove a diversion from the hard work which has begun to turn the Trust around. The focus on the ground now must be to drive up numbers of clinical staff and for the leadership to have an unremitting focus on patient safety."

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Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK and is the largest professional union of nursing staff in the world. The RCN promotes the interest of nurses and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape healthcare policy by working closely with the UK Government and other national and international institutions, trade unions, professional bodies and voluntary organisations.