Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust goes into administration

The controversial and oft-criticised Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust is going into administration after healthcare regulator Monitor deemed it to be "neither clinically nor financially sustainable".

After it was hit by a number of patient safety scandals in recent months, special administrators have been appointed to assess the trust's operating model and ensure that the future of the health services it provides are safeguarded.

Administrators have 45 working days to design a way of providing services to patients in the area that is sustainable in the long term, while Stafford and Cannock hospitals will continue to run as normal until a final decision is reached.

David Bennett, chief executive of Monitor, said: "We have taken this decision to make sure that patients in the Mid Staffordshire area have the services they need in the future."

The move has been welcomed by the NHS Confederation, which said the regulator is right to take "firm action" in this case, while calling for a more proactive approach to help and support troubled trusts in future in order to prevent a repeat of this incident.