Call for 'rapid' hospital inquiry

John Watkinson is on extended leave

More than 100 senior medical staff have called for the "rapid completion" of an investigation into a hospital boss.

John Watkinson, chief executive of Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) is on extended leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The probe follows a report on financial management at his former employer, Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust in London.

Senior staff said at a meeting on Tuesday night that the investigation "jeopardised health care in Cornwall".

�87m debt probe

The joint investigation was announced by the South West Strategic Health Authority and the board of the RCHT looking at the Cornish trust's governance and financial management.

It said it would consider whether issues of competence and behaviour highlighted by Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust (BHT) had in any way occurred in Cornwall.

Mr Watkinson was chief executive of BHT which is facing an accumulated debt of �87m.

But some hospital staff claim Mr Watkinson is being targeted because of his stance against the transfer of cancer services from Cornwall to Plymouth.

Dr Anne Dingwall, chair of the RCHT's senior medical and dental staff committee, said after the meeting on Tuesday night that the removal of Mr Watkinson was "destructive and jeopardised current and future healthcare in Cornwall".

Mr Watkinson, who took up his post at the RCHT in January 2007, has been on extended leave since the joint investigation began.

The RCHT said the review would be "impartial and thorough".

It also said the Bromley review raised no concerns about standards of patient care and there were no concerns about the quality of patient care which continued to be provided by staff.

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