Police launch probe into up to 300 deaths caused by NHS neglect at Mid-Staffs
- - Staffordshire police reveals 1 in 14 of 4,253 deaths from 2005-09 may have been
- caused by neglect
- - Could be 'months' before any criminal charges are brought
- - Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt urged police to investigate in February
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Police investigations have been launched into up to 300 deaths at the scandal-hit Stafford Hospital, it emerged today.
Staffordshire Police believe as many as one in 14 deaths at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust may have been caused by criminal neglect.
But it could take ‘many months’ before any charges are brought over the care failings seen at the hospital from 2005 to 2009.
Inquiry: Police and a multi-agency review believe as many as 300 patients may have died as a result of criminal neglect
A multi-agency review has looked at 4,253 deaths at the hospital to establish how many were the result of criminal activity.
Assistant chief constable Nick Baker revealed hundreds are now thought to have been caused by neglect.
He said in a statement: ‘This is a complex, large-scale review which needs to be detailed, thorough and sensitive. Between 2005 and 2009, there were 4,253 deaths at Stafford Hospital.
‘However, we’ve identified between 200 and 300 cases where alleged neglect may have contributed to a patient’s death and they are being thoroughly reviewed.’
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt urged the police to investigate in February
Up to 1,200 people were thought to have died needlessly at the hospital as a result of poor care between 2005 and 2009.
The Francis inquiry into poor care at the hospital, which reported in February, made a raft of recommendations including that poor managers should be blacklisted and barred from further NHS work.
Since then the police, Crown Prosecution Service, Care Quality Commission, General Medical Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council and Health and Safety Executive have been working with the Stafford coroner to identify the most serious cases.
Mr Baker said: ‘They are examining whether or not there’s any new information which has come to light which could lead to a previous criminal investigation being re-opened or to an entirely new investigation.
'If we get to this stage, our next step will be to establish if there’s any realistic potential for criminal charges and prosecution.
'Due to the complex nature of our case-by-case review, at this stage we cannot be clear about timescales but we do anticipate that this will take many months.
'We are in regular contact with families and patients’ representatives to seek their views and keep them updated.'
An early decision was taken in April by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to formally investigate the death of Gillian Astbury, who slipped into a diabetic coma at the hospital in 2007.
Campaigner: Julie Bailey, founder of the 'Cure the NHS' group holds a copy of Robert Francis QC's report on the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, outside the Houses of Parliament (left). She started the campaign after the harrowing death of her mother Bella at Stafford Hospital
Victims: Arthur Deakin (left), 77, who was admitted to Stafford Hospital with a broken hip. He died of heart failure after a catalogue of failures. Ellen Linstead (right), 67, died after catching Clostridium difficile and MRSA
An inquest into her death found that the failure to administer insulin to the 66-year-old amounted to a gross failure to provide basic care.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt called for a police investigation into the scandal earlier this year.
He said it was wrong that nobody had been ‘brought to book’ and all the evidence was 'in the public domain'.
He added: 'It’s there for the police - and it’s there for the professional bodies, the GMC (General Medical Council) and the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) to look at and they should do that.'
HOW EVENTS AT THE 'INHUMANE' MID-STAFFORDSHIRE TRUST UNFOLDED
November 2007
Grief-stricken Julie Bailey creates the Cure the NHS campaign group following the death of her mother Bella, who died at Staffordshire General Hospital.
February 2008
Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, which runs Stafford Hospital and Cannock Chase Hospital, is awarded foundation trust status - a supposed marker of excellence in the NHS.
May 2008
Health watchdog the Healthcare Commission launches an investigation into high death rates at the trust.
March 2009
Trust chief executive Martin Yeates and chairman Toni Brisby resign days before a Healthcare Commission report reveals that between 400 and 1,200 more people died than would have been expected at the trust between April 2005 and March 2008.
July 2009
July 2009
Then Health Secretary Andy Burnham announces a second independent inquiry, chaired by Robert Francis QC, into what went wrong at the trust.
November 2009
November 2009
The inquiry formally opens, but the hearings are held in private. In its opening statement, Mid Staffs apologises for ‘harm and distress’ caused to patients, their families and loved ones at Stafford Hospital.
February 2010
The report from the £1.7 million independent inquiry is published. It concludes that patients were ‘routinely neglected’ at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. The trust was preoccupied with cost-cutting and targets, and lost sight of its responsibility to provide safe care.
June 2010
David Cameron announces a public inquiry will be held into the failings at Stafford Hospital, with Robert Francis as the Chairman.
October 2010
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) - now the health regulator for England - says Mid Staffs is still falling short on 11 key standards set out by law to maintain quality and safety in hospitals.
November 2010
The inquiry hearings begin. In its opening statement to the inquiry, Cure the NHS claims the care offered by the hospital was so poor it infringed patients’ human rights.
October 2011
The CQC issues a warning to the trust after it finds low staffing levels could compromise patient safety.
December 2011
Stafford Hospital’s A&E department closes at night for three months due to staff shortages.
The closure coincides with the end of the 139-day public inquiry which heard from 164 witnesses, with an additional 87 witness statements.
December 2012
Lawyers reveal the trust has paid out more than £1m in compensation for ‘inhumane and degrading’ treatment of patients.
January 2013
An independent investigation concludes the trust is ‘clinically and financially unsustainable’ and will not be able to provide safe care on a sustainable basis in the future.
Police launch a criminal inquiry after a four-month-old baby boy was found with a dummy taped to his face at Stafford Hospital.
February 2013
The bill for the public inquiry reaches £13 million. NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar says the release of the report will be ‘one of the darkest days’ in the history of the NHS.
April 2013
Stafford Borough Council agreed to file complaints against former Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Martin Yeates, and chairwoman Toni Brisby.
May 2013
Care minister Norman Lamb announces that hospitals that give false information about death rates will face unlimited fines and promises an end to NHS's 'cover-up culture'.
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