Background

On 17 March 2009 the Healthcare Commission published its report into the severe failings in emergency care provided by Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2008.
 
In response to the report, Alan Johnson, the then Secretary of State commissioned two reviews:

• Professor Sir George Alberti (National Clinical Director for Emergency Care) looked at the hospital’s procedures for emergency admissions and treatment and its progress against the recommendations in the Healthcare Commission’s report   
• Dr. David Colin-Thome (National Clinical Director for Primary Care) looked into how the commissioning and performance management system failed to expose what was happening in the hospital.

Both reports were published on 30th April. Copies of those reports are available to download here.

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust has since invited people who have concerns about the care they or a relative received at the Trust to request an Independent Clinical Review, by a panel of independent clinicians. This process is ongoing and is being run by South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust.

On 21 July 2009 the Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham announced an Independent Inquiry into care provided by Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust, to ensure that patients or their families have an opportunity to raise their concerns, to listen and learn from their experiences so that further lessons not already identified by previous investigations are learned.

A copy of the Written Ministerial Statement is available to download here