Royal College of Nurses' concerns over Stafford hospital response

The NHS will have a legal duty to be honest about mistakes as part of an overhaul of the system in the wake of the Stafford Hospital scandal.

The move is part of a package of measures in England to put patients at the heart of the NHS, ministers said.

On training for nurses, ministers said there would be a pilot programme whereby nurses will have to work for up to a year as a healthcare assistant before getting funding for their degree.

Peter Carter the Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said he had real concerns about the pilot programme.