Body taking over running of NHS in England says Nicholson should stay as chief executive
The body that will take over the day-to-day running of the NHS in England from April has backed David Nicholson, currently chief executive of both the NHS and the new NHS commissioning board, in the face of calls for his resignation following the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal.
Malcolm Grant, who chairs the commissioning board, said he had been "deeply worried" by the speculation over Nicholson's future since the report of the 31-month public inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust earlier this month exposed failings across the health service in an excoriating indictment of its attitudes and practices. It made 290 recommendations.
Grant said the board's "clear view" was that Nicholson was fundamental to the success of the reorganisation that will see existing primary care trusts replaced by 221 clinical commissioning groups around the country. The board wanted "very strongly" for Nicholson to remain in charge. Grant said he had discussed the issue with the board's directors before the meeting at which he expressed their decision.
Campaigners walked out of the board meeting, held in public in Manchester, with one crying out "shameful". The board's backing for Nicholson, which follows support from David Cameron, came as pressure mounts on Nicholson to be held accountable for serious failings at the trust between 2005 and 2009. He was chief executive of the regional health body for part of the period in which patients were neglected and poorly treated. He has been chief executive of the NHS since September 2006.
Sixteen MPs, 12 of them Conservatives, have so far called for Nicholson's resignation given his role as chief executive of the West Midlands strategic health authority during the time covered by the inquiry. They have signed a Commons early day motion whose prime sponsor is Charlotte Leslie, the Tory MP for Bristol North West.
Julie Bailey, one of the founders of Cure the NHS, whose mother died at Stafford hospital, was one of about a dozen protesters who stood silently outside the board's office in Manchester where its directors were meeting. She said: "How can we start to cure the NHS when the person who was in charge of those failings is now expected to be in charge of putting it right?"
Nicholson at present splits his responsibilities between the NHS and the commissioning board but will move there full time at the end of next month.
Meanwhile health officials are consulting on whether or not to put the Mid Staffordshire trust into administration in order to "safeguard services" for local patients.
If Monitor, the regulator for foundation trusts, goes ahead with the move, Mid Staffs will be the first foundation trust in the country to be put under the charge of special administrators.
via The Guardian World News http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/28/nhs-david-nicholson-mid-staffs
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