26.02.13
Tory MPs demand Nicholson resignation over Mid Staffs
A group of Conservative MPs are demanding accountability for Mid Staffordshire and urging Sir David Nicholson to resign.
The Telegraph reports that around 20 MPs are due to sign a Commons early day motion tabled by Charlotte Leslie, the Conservative MP Bristol North West.
She said NHS chief executive Sir David “must surely resign” having overseen the “diabolical catastrophe” at Stafford hospital in his former role as chief executive of the SHA overseeing the Mid Staffordshire trust.
Prime minister David Cameron has said he is standing by Nicholson, and last week urged campaigners and MPs not to “seek scapegoats”. Cameron told reporters: “He has properly acknowledged and apologised for the mistakes the regional health authority made when he ran it for that short period of time…I am impressed with the grip and grasp he has over the NHS, and his love for it.”
The final Francis report into what should be done to ensure a scandal like Mid Staffs can never happen again has not yet forced any resignations or further sanctions against managers involved at the time.
Leslie said: “There has been a thunderous silence around the NHS and Mid Staffs scandal, and relatives of those who died needlessly have been screaming into a vacuum for those in positions of authority who were responsible to be held to account.
“David Nicholson was then over-all in charge of Mid Staffs. In no other walk of life would a man who had overseen such a diabolical catastrophe keep his job. So why should he be immune from responsibility? If talk of accountability is to mean anything at all, he must surely resign.”
The Health and Safety Executive is considering reopening an investigation into one of the Stafford deaths, which could also lead to criminal charges, it is reported.
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