This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21613932
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Mid Staffs administration process starts | |
(35 minutes later) | |
By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News | |
The process of putting the scandal-hit Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust into administration has begun, the health regulator Monitor says. | |
Neglect and abuse at Stafford Hospital led to hundreds of unnecessary deaths between 2005 and 2008. | Neglect and abuse at Stafford Hospital led to hundreds of unnecessary deaths between 2005 and 2008. |
The trust has also faced considerable financial problems and was told it needed to save £53m over the next five years to stave off insolvency. | |
Other bodies need to be consulted before the process officially starts. | |
It would be the first time an NHS Foundation Trust has been put into administration. | |
The trust looks after Stafford and Cannock Chase Hospitals. | |
A report by Monitor earlier this year highlighted financial problems at the trust - in order to break even there would need to be savings of 7% of its yearly budget. | |
It said the trust was neither clinically nor financially sustainable in its current form in the long term. | |
Care at the hospital was so poor that patients were left in soiled sheets while others were so dehydrated they drank from flower vases. | |
A Freedom of Information request by the BBC showed that falling public confidence in Stafford Hospital was costing the trust nearly £4m a year. | |
It showed there had been a 67% drop in the number of patients in the past five years as they were choosing to "have their treatment elsewhere". | |
David Bennett, the chief executive of Monitor, said: "We are now consulting on whether to appoint Trust Special Administrators with the expertise to reorganise services in a way which is clinically robust and sustainable. | David Bennett, the chief executive of Monitor, said: "We are now consulting on whether to appoint Trust Special Administrators with the expertise to reorganise services in a way which is clinically robust and sustainable. |
"Their priority will be to make sure that patients can continue to access the services that they need and they will work with the local community to do this. | "Their priority will be to make sure that patients can continue to access the services that they need and they will work with the local community to do this. |
"Taking into account the consultation process, it would be several weeks before Trust Special Administrators were in place." | "Taking into account the consultation process, it would be several weeks before Trust Special Administrators were in place." |
The process of administration would need to include a plan for reorganising health services in the area and would need to be approved by the Secretary of State. |