No charges for bug deaths NHS trust

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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found insufficient admissible evidence to start proceedings against managers at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Bucks.

Repeated outbreaks of Clostridium difficile (C Diff) between October 2003 and June 2005 saw 334 patients infected at the hospital, and at least 33 die.

An earlier report by the Healthcare Commission in July last year found "serious and significant" failings in the way senior hospital managers responded to the outbreak, prompting the HSE investigation.

But despite finding breaches relating to the requirements to keep documents, the HSE said these were not directly linked to any of the deaths and were of a "relatively minor nature".

As such, it concluded that it was not in the public interest to bring legal proceedings against the trust.

But the report did express concern over the fact that the trust did not have a contingency plan to help managers respond to any outbreak.

As a result they were only able to respond to events, rather than implement a "well thought-out" solution to foreseeable circumstances.

The HSE is working with police in Kent to investigate whether action can be taken against a separate trust, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, where appalling hygiene standards have been linked to 90 deaths from C Diff.