Under fire NHS boss: 'I won't go'

Campaign leader Julie Bailey has criticised the decision of the NHS Commissioning Board to offer its full support behind the health service's boss Sir David Nicholson in the wake of the Stafford Hospital scandal.

Read: Stafford Hospital report calls for "zero tolerance" to poor care.

A man has walked out of the NHS Commissioning Board meeting in disgust after hearing that Sir David Nicholson would not be sacked in the wake of the Stafford Hospital scandal.

Gerald Badley, 74, has told ITV News the board's backing of Sir David, who has also refused to resign, was "disgraceful".

NHS boss Sir David Nicholson has been strongly backed by leaders of the health service's Commissioning Board.

Commission chair Professor Malcolm Grant said he has been "deeply worried" by the recent public criticism of Mr Nicholson and said the board remained "committed to him".

He said there had been a search for "accountability and a focus on David Nicholson" in the wake of the Francis Report into failings at Stafford Hospital.

NHS boss Sir David Nicholson has said "patient safety is top of the tree" and said the health service needs a "zero tolerance" of poor safety.

NHS boss Sir David Nicholson has said health service leaders need to "absorb the criticism" in the wake of a report into the Stafford Hospital scandal.

Mr Nicholson praised recommended changes to the NHS in the Francis Report as "radical" and said "getting the right culture" in the health service was vital, adding: "Standards are so, so important."

NHS leaders have been told they need to acknowledge their collective and individual responsibilities and listen to criticism in the wake of the Stafford Hospital scandal.

Robert Francis QC, who chaired the Mid Staffs Inquiry into concerns at the NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2009, has told members of the NHS Commissioning Board they needed to "exemplify" a new culture of openness.

Speaking at the board's meeting in Manchester, Mr Francis told the members they needed to engage in individual cases in future and listen to difficult issues rather than people who tell them what a good job they are doing.

Leading campaigner Julie Bailey has led calls for the resignation of chief executive Sir David Nicholson following the Stafford Hospital scandal.

Mrs Bailey set up the organisation Cure The NHS after her mother, Bella, died at Stafford Hospital in 2007. Speaking while leading protests in Manchester, she said her message to the NHS board today was:

Watch: Julie Bailey tells Daybreak why she believes Sir David Nicholson must go.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will be consulted on whether to put the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust into administration.

Health regulator Monitor confirmed in a statement it will discuss the move with Mr Hunt and "key organisations", saying:

David Bennett, Chief Executive of Monitor, added: