Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust

Charlotte Leslie Excerpts

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

We will absolutely do that, but I should also reassure my hon. Friend that the inspection regime will apply to the ambulance service as well as hospital trusts.

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

I very much welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, but does he share my sorrow that it has taken so long and so many deaths to reach this stage, when Labour was presented with reports by Don Berwick himself highlighting bad quality assessment, when 120 bodies had overlapping responsibilities and when he said that patient safety was not central to the NHS? Is it not tragic that it has taken this long?

[Mr Hunt]

I thank my hon. Friend. Sadly, I agree with her sentiments. We have a responsibility to ensure that we have structures in place that make it impossible to delay addressing these difficult issues. That is the central challenge that I now face.