A POWER struggle between a chief executive and some of her top medical
consultants has been blamed for an unprecedented spate of departures
which has plunged an NHS trust into crisis.
The Moray MP, Mrs Margaret Ewing, is demanding an inquiry into the
conflict which has led to the resignation of the chief executive and two
non-executive directors from Moray Health Services Trust.
Yesterday afternoon, trust chairman Jim Snedden was summoned to a
meeting in Edinburgh with the NHS chief executive in Scotland, Mr Geoff
Scaife, to explain the situation.
Chief executive Elizabeth Hogg quit her #45,000-a-year post 10 days
ago, and was followed by non-executive directors Willie Phillips and Mrs
Marjory Adams.
A source at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin alleged yesterday that a rift
between Mrs Hogg and the senior medical team at the hospital was behind
the row. The source claimed that the issue had come to a head after a
series of disagreements culminated in Mrs Hogg asking for the
resignation of her medical director, Dr Brian Heap.
In the flurry of meetings which followed, Mrs Hogg allegedly offered
to go. But the six non-executive directors of the NHS board unanimously
agreed to ask her to stay.
Mr Snedden and his deputy, Jim Royan, are then said to have met
hospital consultants and ''were left in no doubt'' of their feelings.
''It was not the first meeting the consultants had had with the
chairman to express their concerns,'' the source said.
Mrs Hogg later asked Mr Snedden if she could withdraw her resignation,
but he is alleged to have refused, then recommended it to the next board
meeting, at which only three non-executive directors supported Mrs Hogg.
Dr Heap, who remains as medical director, joined the trust last April
-- taking over from GP Ron Stewart, who quit after only a year in the
job.
When it was put to Dr Stewart that the clash between the medics and
Mrs Hogg was either one of policy or management, he said: ''The policy
has been in place for a long time. You can make your own deductions
about the rest.''
Mrs Hogg was the first woman to be appointed chief executive of a NHS
trust in Scotland and took up the post two years ago. Since resigning,
she has refused to speak publicly.
Mr Phillips, managing director of the Macallan Distillery on Speyside,
has also declined to comment.
But Mrs Lydia King, of Dunbar Street, Lossiemouth, a non-executive
director who supported Mrs Hogg at the board meeting, said she was
scared the affair might damage the trust's reputation.
''A damage limitation exercise is going on at the moment and the time
might come when we have to put our cards on the table -- if only to
protect one person,'' she added.
Conal Smith, chairman of Moray Trades Council, said he was perturbed
by the wall of silence the trust had put up.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article