Government pledges patient-centric response to Francis Report

The Department of Health has called for a "culture of compassion" to be enshrined within the NHS following an inquiry into the high-profile failings that took place at Stafford Hospital.

Responding to the publication of the Francis Report, the government has highlighted the importance of ending the box-ticking, target-driven operating model employed by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Among the measures to be employed are an Ofsted-style ratings for hospitals and care homes, a statutory duty of candour for organisations which provide care and a pilot scheme that will require nurses to work for up to a year as a healthcare assistant to receive degree funding.

It is hoped that the changes will ensure problems are detected more quickly and practitioners are held more accountable for poor practice.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "The health and care system must change. We cannot merely tinker around the edges – we need a radical overhaul with high-quality care and compassion at its heart."

This comes in the same week that the government's Health and Social Care Act reforms came into full effect, creating huge changes for the operating model of the NHS.