Timeline: Scandal-Hit Stafford Hospital

2005 - 2009 Higher that expected number of deaths at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation trust which looks after Stafford Hospital:

2007:

November:

  • Bella Bailey died at Stafford Hospital on the 8th of November
  • Julie Bailey set up Cure the NHS campaign group demanding changes in care at Stafford Hospital

2008:

February:

  • Campaigners from the Cure the NHS group protest outside the offices of Labour MP for Stafford David Kidney to tell him about the situation of vulnerable patients being neglected on the wards.  

May:

  • The Healthcare Commission watchdog begins its investigation into the unusually high death rates at Stafford Hospital. 

October:

  • The Healthcare Commission demands that Stafford Hospital takes immediate action to improve its A&E department. Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust employs more doctors and nurses.    

2009:

March:

  • Damning report comes out on the 18th into 'routine neglect' at Stafford Hospital. It revealed appalling standards of care including soiled sheets and starving patients. It also found an insufficient number of staff on the wards.
  • The then Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologised for the Stafford Hospital Scandal
  • Health Secretary Alan Johnson orders two National Clinical Directors to carry out separate investigations.
  • Julie Bailey and the Cure The NHS Campaign launch an online petition for a full public inquiry into the standards of care at the Hospital. Stafford's Labour MP David Kidney and MP for Stone Bill Cash support it. 

April:

  • The Care Quality Commission is launched as the new independent regulator of all health and social care in England replacing the Healthcare Commission
  • The Alberti and Thome reports are published. They show things were improving at the hospital but there were still problems with staffing and equipment.
  • The Care Quality Commission announces it will do three-monthly visits to check if improvements are being made. 

June:

  • Andy Burnham takes over from Alan Johnson to become Health Secretary 

July:

  • On the 15th Antony Sumara’s appointed new Chief Executive of Stafford Hospital. (He was the former boss of the University Hospital of North Staffordshire) and its new Chairman is Sir Stephen Moss, who used to run the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.
  • On the 21st the news Secretary of State for Health, announces a second independent inquiry. Still not the Public Inquiry Cure The NHS campaigners want

September:

  • Second Independent Inquiry opens

November:

  • Dr. Foster names Stafford Hospital as the ninth best in England for patient safety in his Hospital Guide, and in the top five most improved for in-hospital mortality rates.

December:

  • £4.5m is given to the hospital by the strategic health authority to help fund improvements.

2010

February:

  • Independent inquiry was published on the 24th finding routine failures
  • Martin Yeates handed in his resignation effect from June 14th and received 6 months full pay.

April:

  • The Cure the NHS campaign group goes national after holding an event in Stafford to spur people from across the country to start up their own campaign for hospitals in their area.

June:

  • David Cameron announces a Public Inquiry into Stafford Hospital 

July:

  • Sir Robert Francis holds the first hearing of the public inquiry into the failings at Stafford Hospital. 

October:

  • £11 million compensation Paid out to victims families

November:

  • More than £1m in compensation is paid to 98 people for the poor care they or their relatives received in what’s believed to be the largest group payout by a hospital.
  • The Public Inquiry began and victims and the families of those affected start to give evidence.

December:

  • The trust which runs Stafford Hospital announces it has agreed to pay more than £1m in compensation to 98 people for the poor care they or their relatives received. It is believed to be the largest group payout by a hospital.

2011:

January:

  • Staff at Stafford hospital start to give their account of what it was like to work there, including the former Chairman and Chief Executive of the Trust.

2013:

February:

  • On the 5th - The Public Inquiry into Stafford Hospital will be handed to the Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt.
  • On the 6th - Details of the Public Inquiry are published which are expected to recommend an overhaul of the NHS.