MPs were debating accountability in the NHS following the Mid-Staffs scandal today, and as part of that, the argument about who – if anyone – should be held responsible continues to rumble on. Charlotte Leslie and many of her Tory colleagues want to see Sir David Nicholson gone (and The Telegraph‘s Robert Winnett reports that senior government figures are considering a route by which he can exit). But the focus of Jeremy Hunt and other Conservatives is on Andy Burnham instead. Today Hunt said:
‘[Nicholson] does bear some responsibility. He said himself ‘we lost our focus’, he has apologised and has been held to account by this House and others. But I don’t believe that he bears total responsibility, or indeed personal responsibility for what happened.’
Hunt said Nicholson had ‘consistently warned’ of the dangers of hitting targets without improving care, and added that ‘others do bear a far more direct responsibility’, including the board of the Trust.
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