Mid Staffs pleads guilty over four patient deaths

County Hospital in Stafford (formerly known as Stafford Hospital). Credit: ITV News Central

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust - which ran the former Stafford Hospital - has pleaded guilty to breaches of health and safety over the deaths of four elderly patients.

Three of the deaths happened after falls, while another took place after a patient was given penicillin, despite hospital staff being told she was allergic to the antibiotic.

The charges relate to the deaths of:

  • Patrick Daly, 89, who died on 13 May 2014

  • Edith Bourne, 83, who died on 22 July 2013

  • Ivy Bunn, 90, who died on 6 November 2008

  • Lillian Tucker, 77, who died on 21 October 2005

Lawyer David Lewis entered the pleas to the District Judge and also apologised to the families of the patients on behalf of the Trust.

Stafford Hospital is now known as County Hospital. Credit: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

Prosecutor Bernard Thorogood told the court three of the charges related to a failure to conduct a proper risk assessment and identify controls to prevent falls.

The Trust, which no longer carries out medical services, will be sentenced at Stafford Crown Court on a date yet to be fixed.

The Trust was embroiled in one of the biggest scandals in the history of the NHS when it emerged that thousands of patients had died unnecessarily at the former Stafford Hospital, which is now called County Hospital.