NHS chief facing calls to quit
over scandal plans to retire

The NHS England chief executive will step down from his role next March.

Since the publication of the Francis report into serious failings of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, Sir David, who was in charge of the regional health authority responsible for the trust for a short period, has faced numerous calls to resign.

Julie Bailey, from the campaign group Cure The NHS, has led the calls for him to resign.

Ms Bailey, who set up the group after her mother Bella died at Stafford Hospital in 2007, said that since the Mid Staffordshire public inquiry report was published, Sir David’s position had been “untenable”, adding: “It is fantastic news. This is the start of the cure for the NHS.

“We can start to look to the future now. He was part of the problem – not part of the solution.

“We now need a leader who will galvanise and inspire the front line, not bully them.”

Despite numerous calls for Sir David to lose his position, he received backing from the Prime Minister and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in the wake of the inquiry. In March, he told MPs that he was ‘’absolutely determined’’ to stay in his job despite admitting failures over the Stafford Hospital scandal.

He was in charge of the regional health authority responsible for the hospital for 10 months between 2005 and 2006 – the height of the failings in care.

But he said that the local health authority had ‘’no idea’’ about the serious failures at the trust – where as many as 1,200 patients could have died needlessly as a result of maltreatment and neglect.

Patients were left lying in their own urine and excrement for days, forced to drink water from vases or given the wrong medication.

NHS England said that Sir David, who has worked in the NHS for 35 years, would retire both from his role as chief executive of the organisation, and from the health service, next year.