In the last few days several people who have commented about my blog regarding Mid Staffs have said something to the effect of “What about an apology from you for your part?” and of course, given the depth and the breadth of what happened at Mid Staffs, everybody that had a role in the NHS over those years has to look carefully at what they did and did not do.
The Francis report is not a commentary on something that happened in the distant past, but on something that took place in very recent times. From 2001 to 2007 I was special adviser on health policy for two Secretaries of State and the Prime Minister. Whilst I didn’t run the NHS system I did have an influence on the structure that was set up to run it.
