Nicholson 'committed' to NHS

Sir David Nicholson has continued to ignore questions about his future after he was criticised for his role in the Mid Staffs hospital deaths scandal.

The NHS chief said; "we really do need to make sure that quality and patients are at the heart of it, I'm absolutely committed to doing that I'm relentless in my pursuance of patient care and that's what I plan to do."

But refused to answer questions about patient confidence.

Sir David Nicholson has signed a wall at an NHS conference to "pledge to become a dementia friend," someone who is trained to help spot the early signs of the disease.

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Sir David Nicholson initially refused to answer questions from the media. He has since spoken to reporters - but still refused to take questions.

Read: Nicholson 'Absolutely completely committed to the NHS'.

After avoiding the media's questions on his way into the conference, the under-fire NHS chief Sir David Nicholson has spoken to journalists.

He said: "The NHS faces great challenges in the future. We need to make sure quality and patients are at heart of it.

"I'm absolutely completely committed to doing that. I'm relentless in my pursuance of improved patient care"

He refused to take questions.

Head of the NHS Sir David Nicholson speaking about the future of NHS, but he refused to answer questions about his future before his speech.

He has been criticised for his role in the Mid Staffordshire hospital deaths scandal but has refused to resign as head of the NHS.

He is at a healthcare event in London today. We asked him why he was ignoring calls to resign, he did not answer any journalists' questions.

Crucially he still has the backing of the both the Prime Minister and the Health Minister.

Sir David Nicholson refused to answer questions from journalists as he arrived at the NHS conference this morning.

Read: Under-fire NHS boss to make keynote speech.

Earlier this month Sir David Nicholson said he will not be resigning over failings at Stafford Hospital, despite growing calls from protesters.

ITV News' Midlands Correspondent Rupert Evelyn spoke to him outside a meeting of his board in Manchester:

Watch: Campaigners say Sir David is 'ultimately responsible for Stafford failings'

The under-fire NHS boss who says he is "absolutely determined" to say in his job is due to make a speech on the state of the NHS today.

Sir David Nicholson is expected on stage at 11am at the Innovation Expo 2013 in London.

Nicholson has faced calls to resign for his role in the failures during the Stafford Hospital scandal.