The current situation in the NHS resembles that of the Mid Staffordshire scandal; the difference is NHS staff are shouting from the rafters about the current appalling unsafe conditions for patients and staff
Transcipt from Mid Staffordshire Scandal from The Guardian:
Care at Stafford was "appalling", the watchdog's report said. The Guardian reported at the time that it found "inadequately trained staff who were too few in number, junior doctors left alone at nights and patients left without food, drink or medication as their operations were repeatedly cancelled. Receptionists with no medical training were expected to assess patients coming in to A&E, some of whom needed urgent care."
The then health secretary Alan Johnson said there had been "a complete failure of management to address serious problems and monitor performance, [which] led to a totally unacceptable failure to treat emergency patients safely and with dignity". Bruce Keogh, the NHS's medical director, condemned the trust's "complete failure of leadership". HCC chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said its report was "a shocking story … of appalling standards and chaotic systems for looking after patients. These are words I have not previously used in any report."
- Why was care so bad?
"A chronic shortage of staff, particularly nursing staff, was largely responsible for the substandard care," Francis found in his first report.
In addition, morale was low and "while many staff did their best in difficult circumstances, others showed a disturbing lack of compassion towards their patients", he added. "Staff who spoke out felt ignored and there is strong evidence that many were deterred from doing so through fear and bullying."
He laid much of the blame on the trust's ruling board. The action they took to investigate and resolve concerns "was inadequate and lacked an appropriate sense of urgency". Its members also "chose to rely on apparently favourable performance reports by outside bodies, such as the Healthcare Commission, rather than effective internal assessment and feedback from staff and patients". He was particularly critical of the trust's failure to take patients' complaints seriously enough.
Crucially, Francis also highlighted the key impact of the trust board's decision to try to save £10m in 2006-07, as part of its desire to gain foundation trust status. "The board decided this saving could only be achieved through cutting staffing levels, which were already insufficient." It also ignored staff's concerns, he added.*