Stop interfering, NHS chief warned

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The Guardian said Dr William Moyes, chairman of the foundation trust regulator Monitor, wrote to NHS boss David Nicholson telling him to stop interfering with operational decisions.

The newspaper reports Dr Moyes then gave more than 100 chairmen and chief executives a copy of the letter he sent to Mr Nicholson on January 31 reminding him of parliamentary guidelines on the independence of foundation hospitals.

Dr Moyes said Mr Nicholson had overstepped the mark when he instructed foundation hospitals to deep-clean wards and give more powers to matrons following an infection scandal at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Hospitals NHS Trust in Kent.

The newspaper reports Dr Moyes did not believe Mr Nicholson's instructions were "consistent with the legislative framework".

Outbreaks of C difficile at Kent and Sussex Hospital, Pembury Hospital and Maidstone Hospital claimed the lives of at least 21 patients between 2004 and 2006, according to a report by the Healthcare Commission released last year.

Dr Moyes told the newspaper that it was essential that the Government's healthcare reforms worked in a way that "allows foundation trusts to act autonomously, but in co-operation with the rest of the NHS".

Mr Nicholson said he supported the autonomy of foundation trusts but that every NHS board had a duty to learn the lessons of the C difficile outbreak.