GMC probe into Mid-Staffs slammed as "whitewash" as cases abandoned Dr Gibson was in post as massive cuts to nursing posts were agreed while Dr Suarez told the public inquiry she could not cope with the demands of her management post. Dr Durrans was accused by the inquiry of failing to take sufficient action when risks to patients were highlighted. The legal advice that the cases could not proceed came from the leading counsel to the public inquiry into Mid-Staffs, the GMC said. Last night victims of the hospital's failings said they were "bitterly disappointed" that efforts to secure justice had failed and said the system of regulation was not fit for purpose. Julie Bailey, who founded Cure the NHS, after the death of her mother Bella, said the decision demonstrated that there was no accountability within the NHS. Of 43 doctors whose cases were taken to the GMC with regard to Mid-Staffs, just one, Dr Adil Farouk Elamin, has been struck off the register - for over-claiming £11,000 while working as a locum doctor. In the remaining cases, where most of the allegations related to poor patient care, cases have been dropped, or doctors merely issued with advice to improve their standards. One case remains outstanding. Mrs Bailey said: "We are bitterly disappointed. These clinicians were working as managers; they had responsibility for ensuring patients were safe and they failed - there is just no accountability in the NHS. She said the system of regulation did not protect patients, and that the watchdogs for doctors and nurses both needed to be radically overhauled. "This was the biggest disaster in the history of the NHS - the greatest scandal and yet for all of the suffering, all of the misery that has been exposed, even a public inquiry, those who presided of it are not asked to take any responsibility," she said. Earlier this year the public inquiry into Mid-Staffs said financial targets had been prioritised over safe staffing at the trust, leading to "appalling and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people." The NHS trust's death rates suggested that hundreds more patients died than would have been expected as standards worsened. The system of regulation means that managers without clinical qualifications could not be sanctioned, allowing them to find work elsewhere, while those who worked as doctors or nurses could be referred to professional regulators. The trust's former director of nursing, Jan Harry, was suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, while three nurses and one midwife have been struck off. Niall Dickson, the GMC's chief executive, said he understood people felt "badly let down" over the fact very few people have been brought to book for failings in basic levels of care which were uncovered at the hospital. But he said: "The law is clear: we can only prosecute a doctor if there is sufficient evidence of that individual's wrongdoing."