NHS bosses failed to act over scandal-hit hospital where there were nearly 300 unexpected deaths, report finds

NHS bosses failed to act over a scandal-hit hospital where there were nearly 300 unexpected deaths, a report has found.

According to the report, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), NHS England and NHS Improvement ignored warnings for more than a year.

Analysts Deloitte said all three bodies failed to to deal with the crisis, either collectively or individually, at the North Middlesex Hospital.

Professor Brian Jarman, an expert in hospital deaths who discovered the high mortality rate at the trust, said: "It is important that the CQC is aware of patient safety issues and inspects concerns."

Jeremy Hunt, the former Health Secretary, was also alerted to poor care on the wards at the North London Hospital, however only passed on concerns to the trust instead of regulators.

The chairman of the CQC also failed to intervene when contacted by the same person.

When the CQC finally carried out an emergency inspection in April 2016 it found shocking scenes in A&E including the death of a patient found in the advanced stages of rigor mortis after being left four hours unchecked in a cubicle.

In 2016, the Telegraph reported that the hospital had used its tannoy system to issue a message to those in the waiting area to: Please go home unless you have a life-threatening illness."

The local Conservative MP had nearly died from a perforated appendix after lying 13 hours on an A&E trolley two days before a CQC inspectio in 2014.

The report stated: "All the regulators had a significant opportunity to address quality issues at NMUH but did not take it".

In response to the report, NHS Improvement said: "The events at North Middlesex have important lessons for how oversight organisations work together to ensure that challenged trusts receive support to provide high quality care."