Julie Dawn Bailey CBE is a cafe owner who was a central figure in the Stafford Hospital scandal.
Bailey was born in Stafford and moved to Wales in 1983 before moving home to care for her mother, Bella Bailey. [1]
Bailey helped to form an organisation, Cure the NHS, which successfully campaigned for a public inquiry into the failings at the hospital. [2]
She ran a dog grooming parlour and a small cafe, Breaks, on Lichfield Road in the centre of town, which became the headquarters of the campaign. She and her supporters plastered the walls with photographs of dozens of elderly men and women – husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters – who they claimed had died unnecessarily at the hospital because of lack of care. [3]
She was nationally praised for her determination to shine a light on the failings of the Trust. In Stafford, some people have blamed her for a planned downgrade of the town’s hospital. She says she suffered abuse in the streets. However police dropped the investigation into the alleged harassment claim as they could not find sufficient evidence. [4]
Bailey was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours. [5] [6] She received abuse during and subsequent to her campaign, particularly through the Support Stafford Hospital Facebook page. [7]
On 9 April 2014, Bailey was named as the second most powerful woman in Britain by The Independent newspaper [8] and in the BBC Woman's Hour power list 2014. [9]
On 30 January 2019, Channel 4 announced that they had commissioned a drama of the Stafford Hospital scandal from the perspective of Bailey. [10]
Jeremy Hunt credits her for bringing to attention the cultural defects which meant that health provision became cruel and heartless. [11]
Stafford is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about 15 miles (24 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent, 15 miles (24 km) north of Wolverhampton, and 24 miles (39 km) northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 in 2021, and is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Stafford, which had a population of 136,837 in 2021.
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Sir David Nicholson is a public policy analyst and NHS Manager who is the Chair of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and Chair of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. He was previously the Chief Executive of the National Health Service in England. He was appointed in October 2011 following the NHS reforms, having been seventh Chief executive of the NHS within the Department of Health since September 2006. He issued what has become known as the "Nicholson challenge" regarding the finances of the NHS. He retired from the role on 1 April 2014 in the wake of the Stafford Hospital scandal.
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The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was a NHS foundation trust which managed two hospitals in Staffordshire, England:
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