NHS boss 'unaware' of failings

The boss of the NHS in England apologised to the families of those who died at Mid-Staffs NHS Trust. Sir David Nicholson, a local manager at the time, said it was not his fault. The entire NHS had, in effect, taken its eye off the ball as it chased 'targets'.

He went on to say he was the man to put it right - and he was not for quitting. But, as ITV News medical editor Lawrence McGinty reports, some of the families still want him to go:

Read: NHS boss 'unaware' of failings.

Deb Hazeldine lost her mother, Ellen Linstead, in December 2006 after she caught a superbug at Stafford Hospital. She told ITV News it is "unacceptable" that Sir David Nicholson remains in his job as NHS chief executive following the Mid Staffordshire Hospital scandal.

Speaking in Westminster following the Health Select Committee, Julie Bailey, who set up the Cure The NHS campaign group after her mother Bella died at Stafford Hospital in 2007, said Sir David's evidence was "shameful" and "embarrassing".

"That man is an absolute disgrace," she said.

Asked about suggestions that he would stay in post to lead reform of the NHS, she replied: "I think it's just laughable. He is desperate to carry on in his job."

She added: "We need to get rid of him. Nothing will change. He is part of the problem, not the solution."

Read: Sir David Nicholson's evidence to the Health Select Committee

Former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley gave his full support to under-fire NHS boss Sir David Nicholson as he arrived at Downing Street this morning.

He said: "I'm very clear that David Nicholson is somebody whose knowledge and commitment to the NHS is absolutely essential."

Asked what changes were required to implement the recommendations of the Francis Report on Mid Staffordshire Hospital, Sir David Nicholson said: "This is a significant change programme for the NHS from literally top to bottom.

"It's from setting out basic standards that patients and everyone can understand and assessing and inspecting again against them."

Read: Key recommendations of NHS Mid Staffordshire public inquiry

Sir David Nicholson has told MPs he regrets not meeting with the campaign group 'Cure the NHS' when the failings at Stafford Hospital came to light.

He told the Health Select Committee he instead dealt with them through intermediaries and "that was wrong".

Cure the NHS campaigned for a public inquiry into the failings of the Mid Staffordshire Hospital.

NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has told MPs that when he held senior posts in at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, he was unaware of the failings happening at the trust.

He said: "I had no idea...As shocking as it is, that is the truth. It's not to say there wasn't any information around in the health care system before I got there and by other organisations. We did not, in the NHS, at that time, a culture of sharing information across the system."

Read: Key recommendations of NHS Mid Staffordshire public inquiry

Chief Executive of the NHS, Sir David Nicholson, has told the Health Select Committee that during 2005 and 2009: "The leadership of the NHS lost its focus. I put my hands up to that, I was part of that. My learning through all of that is to never let it happen again."

The NHS boss is facing questions from MPs on the recent highly critical report of the failings of Stafford Hospital, which called for urgent reform of the NHS.

Read: The timeline of the Stafford Hospital scandal.

I am sat watching Sir David Nicholson give evidence to the Health Select Committee with a relative of a mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust victim.

Sir David Nicholson says the NHS is "at maximum risk over the next few days" due to cuts and changes.