Teamwork
Mid Staffs Inquiry · Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry · Issued 6 February 2013 · Addressed to: Healthcare providers
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
There needs to be effective teamwork between all the different disciplines and services that together provide the collective care often required by an elderly patient; the contribution of cleaners, maintenance staff, and catering staff also needs to be recognised and valued.
Mid Staffs Inquiry, Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry · 6 Feb 2013 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Care Quality Commission implemented a Single Assessment Framework where multi-disciplinary working is assessed under the 'Effective Quality Statement' (DHSC and NHS England implementation update provided to the Thirlwall Inquiry, April 2025).
- Regulation 9 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires providers to work in partnership with service users (The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, SI 2014/2936).
- NICE published guidance in September 2015 on delivering personal care and practical support to older people in their homes (Home care: delivering personal care and practical support to older people, NICE, September 2015).
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Response — verbatim from government
●Department of Health and Social Care
The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" in March 2013. Key reforms included a new Chief Inspector of Hospitals, strengthened Care Quality Commission inspection regime, a statutory duty of candour, and the fit and proper person test for NHS directors. Volume 2 (Cm 8754) contains the government's detailed responses to each of the 290 recommendations. See: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7cd486ed915d63cc65d167/34658_Cm_8777_Vol_1_accessible.pdf
Department of Health and Social Care · 19 Nov 2013 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 1 Apr 2025 DHSC and NHS England implementation update provided to the Thirlwall Inquiry (April 2025). This is the government's own account of progress, submitted to the inquiry. Reviewed extent of implementation: Implemented - Ongoing. Multi-disciplinary team working Changing health needs, a complex health and social care system, a growth in multiple co-morbidities and staff shortages mean the NHS must think differently about how it supports new ways of working across teams. The NHS Long Term workforce plan contains a specific focus on optimising MDTs, building on earlier toolkit resources published by Health Education England (now part of NHS England), including self-assessment material. Person-centred care CQC Regulation 9 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities)(Regulations) 2014 (Person-centred care) requires that providers must work in partnership with people using a service, make any reasonable adjustments and provide support to help them understand and make informed decisions about their care and treatment options themselves. NICE have published a guideline in September 2015 Home care: delivering personal care and practical support to older people living in their own homes which provides guidance on delivering personal care and practical support to old people living in their own homes CQC CQC looks at MDT working when it assesses services, and in its previous inspection approach, prompts about MDT working were added to the relevant inspection frameworks CQC have now implemented and started assessing against the new Single Assessment Framework (SAF), where MDT working is assessed under the Effective Quality Statement for how staff, teams and services work together. Source →
- 6 Feb 2023 · Academic Review - Ten Years After Francis Research published 2023 marking ten years since the Francis Report found mixed results. Structural and legislative changes largely delivered (duty of candour, FPPR, CQC overhaul, revalidation, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians). However, cultural change not fully embedded; understaffing, fear of speaking up, and poor complaint handling persist in parts of the NHS. View source → Reasonable Progress
- 11 Feb 2015 · UK Government - Culture Change in the NHS Government published "Culture Change in the NHS" (Cm 9009) reporting progress on all 290 recommendations. Key achievements: 19 hospitals placed in special measures; those trusts recruited 109 additional doctors and 1,805 additional nurses; 129 board-level changes made; excess avoidable deaths fell by 450 in less than a year. View source → Good Progress
- 19 Nov 2013 · UK Government - Hard Truths Vol 1 & 2 Government published "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) in two volumes. Vol 1 set out new actions; Vol 2 provided detailed response to each of the 290 recommendations. Approximately 204 of 290 recommendations were fully accepted. View source → Good Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.