Mid Staffs scandal: Sir David Nicholson quizzed by MPs on the health committee 11.25 Andrew George, the Lib Dem MP, asks if there is a need for a chief executive of the NHS if he does not not have ultimate responsibility for failings. He says Sir David had a "Sir Humphrey" role during the Mid Staffs scandal. Sir David says that "reorganising the NHS is a very, very difficult thing to do and is fraught with risk." Mr George replies: "So by your own standards you've failed." 11.16 Mr Tredinnick asks about the Francis report's recommendation that NHS staff should be put under a legal "duty of candour" to own up when mistakes affect patients. Sir David says: "I do think the spirit of it, that we should have a duty of candour, is absolutely right." 11.11 David Tredinnick asks about Sir David's comments that the NHS was incapable of monitoring what was going on at Mid Staffs."However poor the reporting structure was," he says, "you were in a position to ask for it. Is that not correct? Sir David says that at the time, mortality rates begged more questions than they answered. "In hindsight," he says. That seems extraordinary. He says mortality rates are now examined. 11.10 Sir David says that whistleblowers must be protected because the NHS can "learn from them." 11.00 Sir David says that public money should not be spent by the NHS on gagging clauses. 10.58 Thank you for all your emails so far. Lots of readers are questioning Sir David's ability to lead the NHS forward. 10.54 Sir David again says gagging orders on NHS staff blowing the whistle are "completely and utterly unacceptable." 10.53 Sir David says that the data previously available did not indicate that there was a problem at Stafford Hospital. He says that has now changed. 10.50 One of the key quotes so far appears to be Sir David admitting that the NHS was neither "equipped or capable" enough of identifying the kinds of failures that led to the deaths at Mid Staffs. 10.47 Labour MP Barbara Keely is now asking questions. She asks about his role in driving patient care and who responsibility lies with. 10.45 Dr Wollaston asks Sir David if he is the right person to take the NHS forward. "I have a duty and a responsibility" to manage the organisation," Sir David says. "If you look at my record...you can see I absolutely get" the changes needed in the NHS. He adds: "I think I'm absolutely the right person to take [the NHS] forward." 10.41 Dr Wollaston says the NHS "tries to minimise" patient complaints. Sir David says that one of his "big regrets" is that "when all this blew up...I should have made efforts to meet" campaign group Cure the NHS. He says that the NHS had extensive ways of getting feedback and complaints from patients. He says that one of the problems with Mid Staffs was that they had an "over-legalistic" way of dealing with complaints. However, he admits the NHS has not got its current approach to complaints right. 10.39 Dr Wollaston asks Sir David about the "culture of fear" in the NHS and the gagging orders used on whistleblowers. Sir David says that if he gets a "whiff" of people not giving proper support to whistleblowers he "intervenes directly in the organisation." 10.36 Sir David is now asked about critical reports written about the NHS in the last decade that were not made available to senior managers. Dr Wollaston accuses Sir David of presiding over a culture that "buried bad news." 10.34 Sir David is talking about mortality rates at hospitals. He says that high numbers of deaths at hospitals are now investigated, but admits that action was not always taken in the past. 10.30 Questions now from Dr Sarah Wollaston, who has called today for Sir David to resign. "I'm completely dedicated to improving services for patients," Sir David says. 10.25 Sir David admits there are parts of the NHS where people turn a blind eye to failings. Sir David starts talking about "target culture" in the NHS. He says that when he was appointed as chief executive he coined the following phrase: "Hitting the target and missing the point." He says target-hitting is "dangerous" but admits that some NHS trusts still have that culture. 10.20 Mr George begins talking about other hospitals where there are concerns about excess deaths. He asks who is responsible for the system that failed. Sir David says suggests it is the politicians who set up a new NHS system in 2005 that was "given to me" to make work. Mr George: "So it was a political failing?" Sir David: "What you see is reorganisation on top of reorganisation...what you get out of that is a confusion about accountability." 10.18 Questions now from Lib Dem MP Andrew George. He asks again about accountability. He asks why only nurses are being held to account over Mid Staff. "Do you think it's right that managers have time to reflect?" he asks. Sir David says managers did leave soon after failings at Mid Staffs emerged. He says "accountability was there." 10.15 Some criticism of Valerie Vaz's question technique on Twitter: 10.13 Miss Vaz says that when Sir David moved from his position overseeing Mid Staffs trust he did not tell anyone about concerns about the hospitals there. Sir David insists he send a letter detailing what needed to be done to improve the trust. He again points to disorganisation in the NHS, saying "the NHS was being reorganised yet again." He says he "was essentially, how can I put this, sent to London" but that he "left pretty categoric plans" as to what needed to be done at Mid Staffs. 10.07 Miss Vaz takes Sir David over claims he cannot remember aspects of what he did at Mid Staffs. "It's not a trick," Sir David says. Sir David appears rattled under questioning by Valerie Vaz. He says there is "no record" of him visiting Stafford Hospital more than once and that he cannot recall another visit. 10.03 Sir David is now talking about a visit he made to Stafford Hospital in October 2005. He says he cannot recall who he spoke to at the hospital but says that he did "go around and speak to staff." He says he would have spoken to patients and asked them if they had concerns about the hospital. "If I see things that are worng, I put them right," he says. 09.59 Sir David says that the information that was being collected by the NHS would not have pointed towards what was going on at Mid Staffs. 09.55 Sir David says that It's not true to say people weren't held to account over previous failings in the NHS. "They were," he said. My accountability was different. I was held accountable for delivering the change. But he admits that he was at the centre of a failing system. He says: "I was in that system and I was part of it. 09.54 Sir David says there "were absolutely no rumblings" about Stafford Hospital. He insists people in the NHS has "no idea" about what was going on. 09.49 Valerie Vaz (Labour MP) tells Sir David that "this is not a trial." Sir David says that in the past in the NHS, "patients were not at the centre of the way the NHS operates." He admits that the leadership lost its focus, that he "was part of that" and that he "holds his hands up" for those failings. 09.48 Mr Dorrell asks whether we need more "accountability" in the NHS. Sir David says "absolutely" and says better transparency will drive change in the NHS. He says "clear accountability" is needed, all the way up to the chief executive of the NHS. 09.45 Stephen Dorrell asks exactly how Sir David will change the culture in the NHS. Sir David says there are parts of the NHS where there is currently "poor care." However, he says the fundamental desire to provide the best care for patients is still there in the NHS. 09.43 Sir David talks about leading the NHS through its current reforms: "At the moment the NHS is facing its greatest challenge...it is at maximum risk over the next few days." He says he "promised the Government" that he would see the changes through and is "absolutely determined to do that." 09.41 Sir David again apologises for the "appalling care" received by patients at Mid Staffs. 09.41 Sir David, talking about the Francis report into Mid Staffs, says it was "a deeply, deeply saddening process" hearing the patients' stories about Stafford Hospital. 09.40 Sir David starts by saying that "everybody who was involved needs to reflect...and work out for themselves what they need to do...in terms of changing." 09.36 And we're off. The committee chair Stephen Dorrell begins by saying the Mid Staffs scandal was "deeply shaming" for the NHS. 09.35 Charlotte Leslie has had this to say on BBC Five Live: In any other walk of life if someone had overseen the catastrophe - and the lethal catastrophe - that happened in Mid Staffs, people would go, people would take responsibility....There was a cover-up of reports that came out in 2008 which were warning in dramatic terms about exactly the same things that Francis was warning about five years later. These were covered up. Who covered those reports up? Who was responsible for it? Was it Nicholson? 09.30 Sky News' Sophy Ridge tweets that Cabinet ministers have this morning been giving their backing to Sir David. 09.22 Sir David will be joined at the hearing by Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS medical director, and Liz Redfern, director of nursing, NHS South of England. 09.16 Dr Sarah Wollaston, a Tory MP and GP, has also written for The Telegraph and has said it is "inconceivable" that Sir David can continue to lead the NHS. She adds: How can anyone be said to have 'command of the detail' yet overlook more than a thousand deaths at one of the hospitals for which they were responsible? When he faces the health select committee today, Sir David will have some explaining to do. 09.16 A number of MPs have written for The Telegraph calling for Sir David to resign. Here is a powerful piece from Charlotte Leslie, the MP for Bristol North West, who says more than 40 MPs support her calls for Sir David to go. 09.15 Welcome to the liveblog on March 5 2013 as Sir David Nicholson appears before MPs on the health select committee to answer question on his role in the Mid Staffs hospital scandal.