Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (Inquiry)

Baroness Keeley Excerpts

Wednesday 6th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Members of scrutiny councils or any of the other bodies he mentioned should be able to walk the wards and have a look around, and that is vital. It is worth looking in detail at the report’s findings on scrutiny committees and the rest of it. It has some pretty good recommendations on how they need on occasion to sharpen their act.

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

The executive summary of the Francis report states on page 45:

“There was an unacceptable delay in addressing the issue of shortage of skilled nursing staff.”

The CQC tells us that 17 hospitals are operating with dangerously low levels of nursing staff, resulting in poor care. Does the Prime Minister agree that it is now time to do something about levels of nursing and those ratios rather than leaving it to hospital boards or individual trust boards to decide them?

[The Prime Minister]

What the hon. Lady says about the importance of having clear benchmarks for what is acceptable is right. Over the past few years, the ratio of nurses to acute beds has improved. The paragraph to which she refers is interesting, as it states:

“There can be little doubt that the reason for the slow progress”

in dealing with the shortage of nurses

“and the slowness of the Board to inject the necessary funds…was the priority given to ensuring that the Trust books were in order for the”

foundation trust application. This is absolutely what Francis is saying: finances and targets were put ahead of patient care, so that is the big change that needs to take place.