Burnham And Lansley Face Hospitals Claims

Former health secretary Andy Burnham has denied pressuring the NHS watchdog to tone down criticism of hospitals during his time in the job.

Mr Burnham has faced questions about whether he influenced hospitals' watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at the time it gave Morecambe Bay NHS Trust a clean bill of health, despite deaths of mothers and babies.

Labour's shadow health secretary insisted he did not cover up any problems at England's hospitals in the run-up to the 2010 General Election and was in fact "actively working to identify them".

An open letter from David Morris, the Conservative MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, asked Mr Burnham: "How much 'pressure' did you put on the CQC to 'tone down' its criticism of hospitals?

"You were the Labour Secretary of State for Health, when the first whitewash inspection of the Morecambe Bay NHS trust occurred in the spring of 2010. This was a crucial pre-election season for you."

He also accused the former Labour government of having "twin cultures of secrecy and putting targets before patients".

Mr Burnham's reply denied any hospital problems were swept under the carpet.

"When I was appointed in June 2009, one of my first decisions was to appoint Robert Francis QC to conduct an independent inquiry into what went wrong at Stafford," said Mr Burnham.

Joshua Titcombe's father wrote to Mr Lansley three years ago

"Separately, the Department raised concerns with me about the effectiveness of CQC and I began taking steps to deal with it.

"In late 2009, when problems emerged unexpectedly at Basildon and Thurrock Hospital, it became clear to me that an in-depth look at all hospitals in England was needed so that all problems could be flushed out, action taken and reassurance given to the public," writes Mr Burnham.

He adds that "far from covering up any problems at hospitals in the pre-election period, I hope you can now see how was actively working to identify them."

David Morris has also asked Mr Burnham to make public any emails, texts and letters in which the CQC was discussed and detail conversations he had with Cynthia Bower, the former head of the CQC, before the hospital was given a clean bill of health.

His comments come as it emerged that another former health secretary, the Conservative's Andrew Lansley, was warned about baby deaths at Furness General Hospital three years ago.

Mr Lansley received a letter from James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died aged just nine days at the hospital, raising concerns over inaction by the CQC.

"Despite all of these regulatory bodies, Joshua's death was preceded by the preventable deaths of other babies, yet no action was taken in time to make a different (sic) to our son," wrote Mr Titcombe.

Ex-CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower denies there was any cover up

He continues, "...there seems to be a gap in that the CQC can not investigate individual events and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman do not assess complaints to their office against principles of patient safety".

Mr Titcombe told Sky News he believes the CQC may have been under pressure from senior health officials not to uncover another big hospital scandal.

The reply to his letter from the Department of Health said it was unable to comment on individual cases.

Former bosses of hospitals' watchdog CQC have been accused of covering up a report which criticised their original inspection of the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust. They deny the claims.

The CQC gave the trust a clean bill of health in 2010 despite the deaths of up to 16 babies.

James Titcombe and other families who lost babies at the hospital are now calling for a police investigation and an independent inquiry to establish who knew about the alleged cover-up.

:: Andy Burnham will appear on Murnaghan on Sky News from 10am on Sunday June 23.

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