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October 13, 2024
A hospital boss has been suspended from her job after being criticised by a tribunal over whistleblowers who accused her of nepotism.
South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said Chief Executive Dr Paula Vasco-Knight would be suspended during an investigation into her actions.
Last week, non-executive trust board directors launched a “formal process to investigate concerns” about her.
The board said the suspension would have no bearing on the investigation.
An employment tribunal vindicated two women who had accused Dr Vasco-Knight of nepotism and favouritism, when she recruited her daughter’s boyfriend to a job at the hospital.
It found Claire Sardari and Penny Gates had been victimised as a result of whistleblowing about their concerns.
The tribunal chairman Nick Roper said the trust had acted in an “astonishing way” and made “dishonest” attempts to suppress the findings of an investigation into the affair.
Immediately after the judgement, the Chairman of South Devon Healthcare, Peter Hildrew, resigned.
On Friday, the local NHS body, the South Devon and Torbay Clinical Commissioning Group, said the chief executive, who became a CBE in the New Year Honours List, should be suspended.
Chairman Dr Sam Barrell said “It’s fundamental to good patient care that whistleblowers feel able to raise their concerns without fear of retribution”.
David Allen, speaking on behalf of the non-executive directors of the trust, said their decision to suspend Dr Vasco-Knight was a “neutral act” which was “in the best interest of all parties.”
He said he wanted to remind patients that, “serious as the recent employment tribunal case is, it stems from allegations of favouritism in a recruitment process for a single administrative role. It has absolutely nothing to do with our core business of patient care.”
Source BBC News