Dr Victor Gajek: He said he had no alternative but to leave Singleton

Members of the Dr Gajek Support Group presented a petition calling for a "vote of no confidence" in management at Swansea's Singleton Hospital following Dr Victor Gajek's departure after months of wrangling over his contract.

Managers at Swansea NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, has said the 65-year-old clinical oncologist had, in effect, sacked himself when he took six weeks' unauthorised leave to work at a hospital in southern England.

Neath AM Gwenda Thomas had arranged the meeting on Tuesday morning for the group to urge Ms Hutt to call a public inquiry in to the provision of cancer services in Swansea.

The UK is experiencing a shortage of clinical oncologists and that is why Dr Gajek must be allowed to remain in post Byron Barnett

Members of the support group met the minister in March to hand over their 18,000-signature petition.

At that time, the document called on the NHS trust not to let the radiologist go simply because he had reached retirement age.

But the plea has been overtaken by events - the doctor parted company with the trust last month after bosses discovered he had been working elsewhere.

However, his supporters claim he was forced into that position and they have "converted" their petition in to the call for a vote of confidence in the trust.

They claim Dr Gajek was a member of the comparatively small team of cancer specialists the trust employs to expand its cancer care.

Support group coordinator Byron Barnett said: "We believe that Swansea NHS Trust no longer have support of the community and patients it was constituted to serve.

Singleton Hospital: Dr Gajek was a radiologist in the city

"The trust has attempted to recruit oncologists but to no avail. The UK is experiencing a shortage of clinical oncologists and that is why Dr Gajek must be allowed to remain in post."

Dr Gajek is reported to have said he had no choice but to resign from his post.

He is quoted as saying: "Considering all the circumstances, I had no alternative but to resign from my post."

Andrew Bellamy, Director of Service Strategy and Modernisation for the NHS trust, has said: "The trust will continue to work closely with healthcare professionals and local healthcare organisations in developing long term plans for the future of oncology services.

"Over the last two years, the trust has invested over �2m, in conjunction with other organisations, to develop cancer services.

"New appointments have been made to medical and nursing posts within the cancer services team, as well as new facilities being provided, including the Cancer Institute, the Cancer Centre and replacement of linear accelerators, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The trust had received letters of support for its actions from healthcare professionals and was committed to providing high quality cancer services for the people of Swansea and south west Wales."