CHI's Five Criticisms

Putting five beds in bays designed for four Death rates higher than the national average Accident and emergency service split on two sites The breakdown in communication between staff and management The failure to provide effective services while waiting for the new hospital

Coventry North West MP Geoffrey Robinson took up the case of Alban Barras d'Sa, a consultant surgeon at the Walsgrave who had been suspended in 1999 shortly after he blew the whistle on a colleague's high death rate.

The CHI report savaged the trust and highlighted five areas of major concern which had to be rectified within a three-month period beginning in September 2001.

On publication of the report, Liz Lynn MEP and six of the region's MPs called for Mr Loughton to resign, pointing to one of CHI's criticisms that there had been a breakdown in communication between staff and the board.

'Aggressive management'

As if to further highlight this, 81 consultants signed a petition calling for the chief executive's head, followed by a vote of no confidence in Mr Loughton which managed to secure the support of half the consultant body.

Coventry City Council debated Mr Loughton on 1 November 2001 when Socialist councillor Karen McKay expressed concern over the trust's alleged aggressive management style.

David Loughton faced pressure from MPs

Then further trouble came in the form of an article in The Times newspaper which claimed that UHCW had one of the highest mortality rates for heart surgery.

With pressure mounting on Mr Loughton, the chairman of the trust Gary Reay dramatically resigned live on BBC radio in an act of support for the chief executive.

David Loughton finally announced his resignation saying that the final go-ahead for the new hospital offered a good cut off point to his sixteen-year reign.