MPs to consider 'lessons' that can be learnt from Mid Staffs

The Commons health select committee last week announced that it will hear evidence about conditions at Mid Staffordshire as part of an inquiry on patient safety in June.

However, calls for a full public inquiry into standards at the trust were blocked last week. A motion tabled in a Commons debate by shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley was beaten by a small majority.

A nurse from the trust received a standing ovation at RCN Congress in Harrogate earlier this month after reiterating the commitment of nurses there to provide safe and compassionate care.

RCN steward Sue Adams, ward manager of the short stay unit at the trust’s Stafford Hospital, apologised for the failings in patient safety highlighted in a report by the Healthcare Commission in March.

‘I’m not saying that everything at Mid Staffs is ideal and I will be one of many to hold up their hands and say we are sorry for what happened,’ she told delegates.

‘However, we do want to deliver the safe, compassionate care that both [Lord] Darzi calls for and that patients want, need and deserve and the nurses at Mid Staffs want to deliver,’ she said.

‘We are not proud of the failures,’ she added. ‘We have brought attention and tried to get things moved along at Mid Staffs and will continue to strive to influence the quality of the care that our patients get.’

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