Dr Hope was suspended on full pay

Dr Terence Hope, 57, returned to work after Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre dropped a case against him.

He was accused in early March of taking an extra bowl of soup and some croutons at the hospital without paying.

MP David Taylor called for the NHS to concentrate on high quality clinical care over spreadsheet-type management.

'Trival incident'

He said lessons should be learned from the "hotly-denied most trivial incident" during a debate on Commons business.

"He was reinstated a week later although by that time clinics had been cancelled, operations had been postponed and lives had been jeopardised," the Northwest Leicestershire MP said.

"Have we really lost the public service ethos to the extent that it would appear?

"Can we not get a detailed examination of the background to these incidents so other lessons can be learned for the delivery of high quality clinical care within the NHS and not the pursuit of spreadsheet-type management?"

The hospital has said that Dr Hope, who lives near Castle Donington, Leicestershire, has been reinstated and the matter is closed.

Mr Hain replied: "This, I suppose, counts as `The Crouton Affair'.

"If the facts are as have been reported and you underline then it is frankly a ludicrous episode.

"I am sure health ministers will have noted very carefully what you have said."