Hunt: Failing NHS bosses to be put on blacklist

FAILING NHS bosses in England will be put on a blacklist to ensure they can no longer work in the health service, Jeremy Hunt has said.

Responding to the Francis Report on serious failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which highlighted “appalling and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people” at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009, the Health Secretary announced plans to introduce a “national barring list” for managers who let their patients and the NHS down.

The changes will affect hospitals in England, as health is devolved in Scotland and Wales.

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Mr Hunt backed NHS boss Sir David Nicholson, who was in charge of the regional health authority responsible for the trust for a short period while patients were being mistreated.

He also said a new Chief Inspector of Hospitals would be able to name and shame poorly performing trusts. If trusts do not deliver adequate care they could be put under a “failure regime” and may ultimately go into administration.

Mr Hunt also confirmed hospitals would be subject to Ofsted-style ratings – where they will be rated on a scale from “outstanding” to “poor”.

He outlined plans to link NHS pay progression to performance in delivering high-quality care.

Robert Francis, QC, chairman of the public inquiry into the “disaster” at Stafford Hospital, made 290 recommendations for healthcare regulators, providers and the government.

Up to 1,200 patients may have died needlessly after they were “routinely neglected” at the hospital. Many were left lying in their own urine and excrement for days, forced to drink water from vases or given the wrong medication.

Mr Hunt said he wanted to embed a culture of “zero harm and compassionate care” in the NHS. He also proposed “statutory duty of candour” for NHS providers so that patients are fully informed if something has gone wrong with their care.

Trusts that fiddled mortality data figures would face “legal sanctions at a corporate level”.

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It is unclear how many of Mr Francis’s points were taken on, but a number of key recommendations were absent from the government’s response.

Mr Francis called for a regulation system for the NHS’s army of healthcare assistants. But Mr Hunt only announced a code of practice and minimum training standards for the support staff, saying a regulatory system could create a “bureaucratic quagmire”.

He also said there should be individual criminal liability for staff who harm or kill patients.

“The events at Stafford Hospital were a betrayal of the worst kind,” Mr Hunt said. “A betrayal of the patients, the families, and the vast majority of NHS staff who do everything in their power to give patients the high-quality, compassionate care they deserve.”

Labour warned lessons would not be learned if the NHS was not properly funded.

Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary, said: “We will never get the right culture on our wards if they are understaffed and overstretched.”

Jane Cummings, chief nursing Officer for NHS England, said: “The culture change we all want must … run through the veins of a new NHS that is safer, more compassionate and constantly improving.”