A SHAKE up of nursing standards and the way hospitals will be run in future has been welcomed in Gloucestershire.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced today a list of measures in reaction to the Francis Inquiry into poor care at the Mid Staffordshire Hospitals Trust, where 1,200 patients are thought to have died needlessly.
Trainee nurses will face a year-long spell in healthcare to learn about compassion before they receive NHS funding.
He said the NHS could learn from the airline industry, with a 'safety first' culture taking precedent over all else.
"We must have a clearer picture of what is happening, so if problems exist they are detected more quickly," he said.
"The disjointed system of regulation has smothered the NHS.
"A new chief inspector of hospitals will be the whistle blower in chief.
"We know publishing survival results has improved standards in heart surgery, so we will be doing the same in ten other procedures.
"No hospital will be rated as good or outstanding if fundamental standards are breached.
"The vast majority of staff give excellent care day in day out.
"We must make sure the system does not crush the inate sense of decency that drives people to give their lives to the NHS.
"New legal sanctions at a corporate level for organisation who willfully generate misleading information or with hold information. A barring scheme will stop managers found guilty of misconduct from working elsewhere in the NHS."
Severance payments for sacked workers will also be reviewed.
He also stressed the need for NHS staff to be properly led and motivated, and made to feel part of a big team with patient care at its heart.
Dr Frank Harsent, Chief Executive of the Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust, welcomed the measures, saying they rightly put patients at the heart of the health service.
"As a Trust, we absolutely support the culture of openness and accountability in the NHS and the statutory duty to be honest about mistakes, known as a duty of candour," he said.
For more reaction, see tomorrow's Echo and Citizen.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced today a list of measures in reaction to the Francis Inquiry into poor care at the Mid Staffordshire Hospitals Trust, where 1,200 patients are thought to have died needlessly.
Trainee nurses will face a year-long spell in healthcare to learn about compassion before they receive NHS funding.
He said the NHS could learn from the airline industry, with a 'safety first' culture taking precedent over all else.
"We must have a clearer picture of what is happening, so if problems exist they are detected more quickly," he said.
"The disjointed system of regulation has smothered the NHS.
"A new chief inspector of hospitals will be the whistle blower in chief.
"We know publishing survival results has improved standards in heart surgery, so we will be doing the same in ten other procedures.
"No hospital will be rated as good or outstanding if fundamental standards are breached.
"The vast majority of staff give excellent care day in day out.
"We must make sure the system does not crush the inate sense of decency that drives people to give their lives to the NHS.
"New legal sanctions at a corporate level for organisation who willfully generate misleading information or with hold information. A barring scheme will stop managers found guilty of misconduct from working elsewhere in the NHS."
Severance payments for sacked workers will also be reviewed.
He also stressed the need for NHS staff to be properly led and motivated, and made to feel part of a big team with patient care at its heart.
Dr Frank Harsent, Chief Executive of the Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust, welcomed the measures, saying they rightly put patients at the heart of the health service.
"As a Trust, we absolutely support the culture of openness and accountability in the NHS and the statutory duty to be honest about mistakes, known as a duty of candour," he said.
For more reaction, see tomorrow's Echo and Citizen.