article: A Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) report said the situation was "dangerous" and that children were also suffering due to operation delays. Cynon Valley MP Ann Clwyd claimed it was the Welsh equivalent of the Stafford Hospital scandal. Hospital chiefs refuted the comparison and said problems were being tackled. Adam Cairns, chief executive of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CVUHB), told BBC Wales Today that 12 patients had died over a 15 month period while on the cardiac waiting list. He said he could not be certain whether any one of those deaths was avoidable but shortening the length of time people waited reduced the risk. The report by the RCS on UHW - the biggest hospital in Wales - followed a visit of its surgical departments by the college's Professional Affairs Board for Wales (PAB) in April. The report said there was "universal consensus" amongst the clinicians that services at the hospital were "dangerous" and of "poor quality". "Urgent attention" by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CVUHB) was needed to address the issues, it said. An action plan has been agreed with the health board and will be reviewed in the autumn. Ms Clwyd, who is conducting a review into complaints by hospital patients in England, told BBC Radio Wales that a public inquiry into the hospital should be chaired by someone from outside Wales. She pointed to UHW having the highest mortality rate of any hospital in Wales adding that UHW accounted for the "vast majority" of complaints she had received from Wales. "I think it's very serious - I think it's the equivalent of Wales' Mid Staffs," Ms Clwyd said. "It was mortality rates in Mid Staffs that first raised the alarm [there] and because of that there was an inquiry." The Francis inquiry into failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2008 showed there were between 400 and 1,200 more deaths at Stafford Hospital than would have been expected. The report argued for "fundamental change" in the culture of the NHS to make sure patients were put first. It prompted a separate review of 14 NHS hospitals in England with high mortality rates. Ms Clwyd added: "This is a shocking set of events and the report from the Royal College of Surgeons, who as you know are fairly conservative in their approach to things, has made these severe criticisms of the University Hospital of Wales. "And I think both the chairman and the chief executive should consider their own positions. "They're responsible for running that hospital, they've got questions to answer. And in my view, they have not answered them, and the only way this will happen is through a proper inquiry like the Francis inquiry into Mid Staffs." Cardiff and Vale Health Board said revised figures for death rates at the hospital were significantly better than those originally reported in March adding that it needed "to make further improvements including targeted audits of clinical specialities where we have concerns and continued improvement in our data quality and coding activities". The RCS report
summary: An MP has called for an inquiry after surgeons said patients had died waiting for heart surgery at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff.