Nurse relief after police drop cancer investigation

A director of nursing says her hospital can start ‘rebuilding public trust and confidence’ after police dropped an investigation into claims that cancer waiting times data had been manipulated.

Detectives had been examining a report passed on by the Care Quality Commission that some staff at Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust claimed they were bullied into changing data to avoid reporting breaches of waiting time limits.

But Essex Police have this week issued a statement saying there was no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing.

Trust director of nursing and quality Barbara Stuttle said: ‘This will be enormously reassuring to our cancer patients – past, present and future. It is another important step towards rebuilding public trust and confidence in the cancer services we provide. The police investigation has been hanging over the Trust for almost two years so it is pleasing that, at long last we can finally draw a line under it.’

An independent published last December found no evidence that staff were instructed to manipulate data.