THE whistle-blower who uncovered major faults in the way a health board recorded serious incidents, many involving patient deaths, has told the Health Secretary she should extend her inquiry to ensure it is not happening elsewhere.

"There should be a major inquiry into the failings at NHS Ayrshire and Arran," psychiatric nurse Rab Wilson said after meeting Nicola Sturgeon and the chief executive of the NHS in Scotland, Derek Feeley.

He said Mr Feeley had said he would be taking a "personal interest" in the investigation into what had happened. "Ms Sturgeon said she never wants to see a report like that of the Scottish Information Commissioner last week land on her desk again."

Mr Wilson, who was suspended from work at one stage in his campaign to force NHS Ayrshire and Arran to release reports into critical incidents, was vindicated last week when the Scottish Information Commissioner called it the worst case he had come across. More than 50 reports, half of them involving deaths of patients, were wrongly withheld.

To end what he called the "cult of secrecy" Mr Wilson said an open forum should be made available to health service employees where they can freely raise concerns without fear of intimidation or reprisal.

Ms Sturgeon said: "It was very useful to hear from Rab and important for me to listen to his views."

Mr Wilson said he was impressed by how seriously the matter was being taken, in particular "the mysterious appearance of supposedly non-existent documents and the subsequent rewriting of them".