Financial restraints are “no excuse” for unacceptable care, says Francis

Financial restraints on the NHS must never be used to excuse unacceptable care, the head of the public inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal has declared.

Speaking at the launch of the Nuffield Trust’s report The Francis Report: One Year On,1 Robert Francis QC said he was “very encouraged” by the initial progress made in implementing his recommendations arising from his public inquiry,2 with NHS staff saying that his recommendations had reinforced their efforts to treat quality of care as equal to, or more important than, financial performance as a priority.3

But he said that concerns raised by some NHS staff about a perceived antagonism between a focus …