A HOSPITAL inspection body has been rapped for failing to take charge over failings at Basildon Hospital.

The House of Commons Public Accounts committee said the trust, which runs Basildon Hospital, had been in breach of regulatory standards for care quality since 2009, but that Monitor failed to appropriately challenge it until local MPs declared they has lost confidence in the trust’s leadership.

Giving evidence to the committee, Monitor acknowledged it should have moved much more quickly to replace senior staff at the trust and should have been prepared to intervene more stronglywhen the trust did not sort itself out within a fixed time period.

Jackie Doyle-Price, a member of the committee and MP for Thurrock, said: “As Members of Parliament, we were criticised for giving challenge to the trust management and to Monitor, but the positive change which has been achieved shows we were right to do so.”