09 June 2010
John Black, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, said:
“The full public inquiry announced today into the systemic failings at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust should be a welcome opportunity to publicly discuss the wider issues of transparency that could allow a similar incident to occur elsewhere. We already know from the independent report published by the last government that surgical staff knew there were problems that could endanger patients and had raised concerns internally but were frustrated by the lack of urgency in action and, because of their contracts of employment, could not go public.”
