I read in the papers this weekend that the HSE have been asked to carry out further investigation following the publication of the Staffordshire Health Authority report.

1. Is this the right route, or is it the usual "if I can't get it any other way, I make a health and safety issue".
2. Will also be interesting to see what the FFI fees will be for this.

Rodger Ker.

The parallel might be the rail industry where responsibility for safety has been transferred to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch from the HSE.

Thinking about this again, a thought has come across my mind. In most areas regulations still tends to be prescriptive, and basically if you follow the rules, even if someone dies, you are safe from prosecution. H&S though works on a goal setting agenda, with general duties established for employers based on doing everything you can, so far as reasonably practicable. (That is what Robens wanted in his original report way back when). This means it is easier to ‘get’ someone under H&S legislation rather than other regulations, hence the tendency to bring on H&S when nothing else will do, for example in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes by the Metropolitan Police, where all the avenues for a prosecution where explored (including corporate manslaughter) and the CPS decided on a prosecution under section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Who knows? Perhaps this might lead (via hand-over to the Police) to a first "proper" test of Corporate Manslaughter.

IMHO the Govt dont want a functioning NHS or indeed a Welfare State. We head back to Dickensian times at a breath taking pace.

Fanciful I know, truth seems to be a commodity in very short supply these days..........

JohnMurray

Problem is that there is evidence that some would not have died at that point in time. We all die but it should not be speeded up by the neglect of others. Mid Staffs senior management was clearly dysfunctional judging from the report and they had no idea how bad things were. The other NHS trusts now named seem equally happy to simply learn from the past and forget the dead.

The truth is contained in the old bad joke - What is the difference between a hospital and a church. The church is the one that buries the hospitals mistakes!! Now days it seems that a report can be used to do the burying - We must learn from our mistakes - Yes BUT what about justice for the families and victims. In the end the taxpayer is paying for the mistakes of the Directors who are running incompetent trusts. Director disqualification under HASAWA would seem to be at least one thing that should be done following a simple section 3 prosecution plus whatever else can be brought to bear on the miscreants.

Bob