Mid Staffordshire and Milton Keynes are granted conditional registration

Two troubled NHS foundation trusts, Mid Staffordshire and Milton Keynes Hospital, have been granted registration by the Care Quality Commission but must fulfil strict conditions to protect patients. If the conditions are not met their NHS licence to operate may be withdrawn.

The independent regulator announced that a further 64 NHS trusts will be registered without conditions. This is the first wave of registrations under the new tougher system for regulating standards in the NHS. Legally all 381 NHS trusts in England have to be registered with the commission by 1 April. Over the next two weeks the commission will announce how the remaining trusts have fared.

Cynthia Bower, the commission’s chief executive, said: “This is a tough new system, and we have stronger enforcement powers than ever before to make sure services improve.” The new powers include warning notices, fines, prosecution, restrictions on activities, and, in extreme cases, closure.

“This initial registration process is just the start of the system. For a number of trusts registration will be conditional on them taking immediate action to improve. Others have identified specific areas they …