NHS reform and cuts: special report

A major review aimed at introducing a “zero-harm” culture into British hospitals calls for a change in the culture of the NHS.

A report into serious hospital failures that reports suggest may have caused 13,000 needless deaths at 14 health trusts, is expected to say that the Mid-Staffs scandal was not a one-off.

Channel 4 News visits Royal Blackburn, one of the hospitals placed in “special measures” following the Keogh report, where concerns are that staffing problems are contributing to high mortality rates.

NHS Confederation chief executive Matt Tee tells Channel 4 News the Keogh report exposed “very serious issues that need to be addressed” as campaigner Julie Bailey says there is ‘more to be exposed’.

Up to 13,000 people have died needlessly in 14 NHS trusts across England since 2005, a damning report from NHS medical director Bruce Keogh is expected to say this week.

Sir Brian Jarman, an expert in hospital mortality, says there is evidence of political pressure on regulators which could explain why the extent of “needless” deaths on the NHS was previously unknown.

Healthcare assistants do jobs which should be done by doctors and nurses, such as inserting intravenous drips, without having to take formal training, a review has found.

Measures to crackdown on health tourism, including a “registration and tracking” system and the possibility of charging for GP services, are to be announced by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Exclusive: former CQC boss Cynthia Bower, accused of concealing hospital inspection failures at Morecambe Bay, tells Channel 4 News she rejects claims she and three colleagues colluded in a cover-up.

The father of baby Joshua Titcombe, who died in hospital, tells Channel 4 News he felt physically sick on learning that Cynthia Bower ordered the CQC failings cover-up and calls for a wider inquiry.

Former CQC boss Cynthia Bower, her former deputy Jill Finney and current CQC media manager Anna Jefferson are named as the officials accused of covering up inspection failures at a Cumbrian hospital.

The A&E crisis will pale into insignificance when compared with problems that could lie ahead for out-of-hours care amid a looming shortage of GPs, a leading doctor tells Channel 4 News.

Sir David Nicholson, who presided over the scandal at the Mid Staffordshire hospital, tells MPs he is “absolutely determined” to lead NHS health reforms despite calls for him to resign.

The number of patients forced to wait for more than four hours in accident and emergency departments before being treated has reached its highest level in a decade, a new report suggests.

Five other hospital trusts are to be investigated in the wake of the public inquiry into failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust.