Prosecution sought for 
ex-Stafford health chief

Stafford Borough Council has agreed to file complaints against former Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Martin Yeates and chairwoman Toni Brisby.

Councillors allege they committed misconduct in public office by knowingly giving false and misleading evidence relating to death rates to the council’s statutory overview and scrutiny committee.

At a meeting of the full council on Tuesday night, councillors instructed Stafford Borough Council chief executive Ian Thompson to make a formal complaint to the CPS over the allegations.

A spokeswoman from Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust said it would not be commenting on the issue.

The CPS said the correct procedure would be to make an initial complaint to the police.

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: “We have not received a complaint from Stafford Borough Council but are aware of the motion.

“With all complaints, we review any information given to us to see if a police investigation is the appropriate way forward.”

The move comes after thousands of supporters flooded Stafford town centre last weekend in a demonstration aimed at keeping major services at Stafford Hospital.

A public inquiry into the hospital, which was placed into administration last week, found it had provided “appalling” standards of care and caused unnecessary suffering to hundreds of patients over a five-year period up to 2009.

Health regulator Monitor has given two special administrators 45 working days to produce a plan for the sustainable “reorganisation” of future services, including maternity care.

The decision to place the Trust, which also runs Cannock Hospital, into administration was taken after a review team concluded that its services were clinically and financially unsustainable.