Call over 'patient neglect' staff

The Press Association: Call over 'patient neglect' staff: NHS staff who neglect patients should be prosecuted in light of scandals such as that in Mid Staffordshire, experts have said. Between 400 and 1,200 more people died than would have been expected at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, investigations in 2009 and 2010 found.

Poorly trained staff were too few in number, junior doctors were left alone in charge at night and patients were abandoned without food, drink or medication. Some were left in pain or needing the toilet, or sat in soiled bedding for hours at a time. Experts writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics said staff should be prosecuted for such a 'gross dereliction of duty', as already happens in France.