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Mid Staffs administration process starts Scandal hit Mid Staffs 'faces being dissolved'
(35 minutes later)
By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News By James Gallagher and Nick Triggle BBC News
The process of putting the scandal-hit Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust into administration has begun, the health regulator Monitor says. The scandal-hit Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust faces being dissolved after regulators announced the administration process was to begin.
Neglect and abuse at Stafford Hospital led to hundreds of unnecessary deaths between 2005 and 2008. The trust has been at the centre of one of the worst scandals in NHS history after neglect and abuse led to hundreds of needless deaths from 2005 to 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. Mid Staffordshire has also faced serious financial problems - it got a £20m bailout by government last year.
Other bodies need to be consulted before the process officially starts. The regulator Monitor has now decided it should be put into administration.
It would be the first time an NHS Foundation Trust has been put into administration. This means an independent administrator will take over the running of the trust before coming up with proposals for the long-term.
The trust looks after Stafford and Cannock Chase Hospitals. A range of options are available, including closing down the trust altogether. If this happens essential services would be taken on by another organisation.
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. The administrator could also recommend the trust not be scrapped although it would not exist in its current form.
It said the trust was neither clinically nor financially sustainable in its current form in the long term. Monitor has decided "in principle" the process should start, although other bodies need to be consulted before the process officially starts.
Care at the hospital was so poor that patients were left in soiled sheets while others were so dehydrated they drank from flower vases. That is only expected to take a couple of weeks.
A Freedom of Information request by the BBC showed that falling public confidence in Stafford Hospital was costing the trust nearly £4m a year. Not sustainable
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". It is the second time an NHS trust has faced such a process - earlier this year the decision to break up South London Healthcare was agreed.
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. Mid Staffordshire looks after Stafford and Cannock Chase hospitals.
"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. It was at the Stafford site that "appalling" care led to the deaths of more than 400 patients.
"Taking into account the consultation process, it would be several weeks before Trust Special Administrators were in place." There has been five major investigations into what went wrong, including the public inquiry published earlier this month which criticised the whole NHS for the handling of the problems.
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. It has also been clear for some time that the trust was struggling financially.
The Department of Health in England said the trust was "still facing serious financial challenges". A report by Monitor earlier said in order to break even there would need to be savings of 7% of its yearly budget.
A spokesperson said: "This puts at risk its work on improving services for patients. It is important that valued local services will last and are able to continue providing high quality treatment and advice for patients. It has now concluded that the trust is neither clinically nor financially sustainable in its current form.
"We appreciate that this is an area where people are going to hold strong views. David Bennett, the chief executive of Monitor, said: "We are now consulting on whether to appoint administrators with the expertise to reorganise services in a way which is clinically robust and sustainable.
"Monitor will now consult with key stakeholders, including the Secretary of State for Health, before making a final decision on the appointment." "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."
The Department of Health in England said the serious financial challenges the trust was facing was "putting at risk its work on improving services".
"It is important that valued local services will last and are able to continue providing high quality treatment and advice for patients," the spokesman added.
Professor John Caldwell, the trust's chairman, said "We have accepted for some time that the trust, working alone cannot produce a long lasting solution to the issues we face.
"We will continue to work with our regulators and commissioners to deliver the services they require to our local community."
Julie Bailey, founder of the campaign group Cure the NHS, which brought the failings at the hospital to national attention, said: "We are obviously distressed. But this was inevitable really."