MPs turn up pressure on NHS boss Sir David Nicholson to quit after scandal of 1,200 deaths

 
Heated: NHS boss Sir David Nicholson at the committee today
PA
14 March 2013

NHS chief Sir David Nicholson was facing growing calls to quit today as MPs debated accountability in the health service.

More than 30 now say he should stand down after the Stafford Hospital scandal in which up to 1,200 patients died unnecessarily, sometimes in appalling conditions.

Several London MPs, including Labour’s Kate Hoey and Jim Dowd, will use the debate to criticise the way proposals are being pushed through to merge or downgrade their local hospitals.

But they are also among those questioning whether Sir David should stay as NHS chief executive.

He briefly headed the regional health authority that oversaw the now disgraced Mid-Staffordshire Hospital Trust. After the shocking Francis Report into the deaths of hundreds of patients, Mr Dowd said: “The errors in this case were so grave that his position is very difficult.”

Tory backbencher Charlotte Leslie, who has led the calls for Sir David to go, was also pushing the demands in the Commons for a significant culture change within the NHS.

The motion for debate read: “This House believes that in the wake of the Francis Report it is clear that accountability and transparency are of paramount importance to patient safety and trust in the NHS; and further believes that across the NHS individuals found to have breached those principles should face the appropriate consequences.”

MPs from all three main parties were supporting the campaign, which thrust Sir David’s future back into the spotlight. Tory MP Stephen Barclay told BBC radio this morning: “I think his position is untenable.”

Sir David will be grilled by the Commons public accounts committee next week. He has admitted being part of a failure in NHS leadership which lost focus as it pursued Whitehall targets but vowed to use his experience to boost patient care.

Sources close to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he still had “confidence” in the NHS boss.

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