Scandal-ridden NHS trust to be broken up

The NHS trust at the centre of the worst health service scandal in more than a decade has no future, an NHS regulator has concluded.

Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust is likely to be broken up and its two hospitals with 344 beds partially closed or handed to new management, despite local opposition. It became synonymous with poor care after an independent inquiry in 2009 found patients had suffered appalling neglect.

Monitor, the regulator of foundation trusts, said the trust was providing safe care today but would not be able to continue doing so in the future, as it was "not clinically sustainable" and "cannot break even".