The case of seven-year-old Izabelle Easen is shocking and should be held up as a prime example of why honesty and transparency in the NHS is absolutely crucial, and why efforts to improve it need to move up the government's agenda. This story has come to light just days after the House of Lords rejected proposals to make transparency a legal requirement for NHS Trusts.

It has been reported that Izabelle's mother went through the harrowing experience of watching her daughter die after suffering an asthma attack and spent years blaming herself. However, in 2011, she learned that a paramedic that attended the scene did not take the correct action, and was secretly sacked by the NHS for medical negligence.

According to the South Yorkshire Times, Izabelle suffered a terrifying asthma attack in April 2008, and her mother Lorna was woken up by her frightened cries for help. After Lorna gave Izabelle an inhaler, the child settled down. However her condition worsened later in the night and she complained of pins and needles in her arms and her chest and she and began to be sick. Shortly after she stopped breathing and turned blue.

Her mother called an ambulance and paramedics advised her to administer CPR and talked her through the process while they made their way to the scene. Izabelle's mother was apparently never told that a top level investigation had taken place and found that the paramedic should have given the child continuous resuscitation on his arrival, and was later fired. She only found out about the cover up when a full transcript of the paramedic's misconduct case was revealed in October last year.

The story hits right at the heart of the argument for legal obligations that would make it compulsory for NHS workers to tell patients, or their next of kin, if something has gone wrong with their treatment. It would mean that healthcare staff would be forced to adhere to 'duty of candour' guidelines, something which charity Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) has campaigned about for years.

The Department of Health has outlined plans to introduce a 'contractual duty of candour', which whilst appearing broadly similar, AvMA claims would not be as robust, and would make it easier for hospitals and surgeries to cover up negligent treatment. If the government is serious about creating a culture of openness and honesty within the NHS then a contractual duty of candour does not go far enough.  Furthermore, last Monday the government narrowly defeated a cross party bid in the House of Lords to add a statutory duty of candour to the controversial Heath and Social Care Bill. The fact that the government chose to fight the amendment is evidence, in my view, that patient safety is not high up the government's agenda.