Crisis No2 for the man with no shame: NHS chief and the whistleblower paid £500,000 to keep quiet over second hospital
- Gary Walker was Chief Executive of the United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust
- He says he was fired after warning about a dangerous NHS 'target culture'
- His comments raise more questions about NHS Chief Sir David Nicholson
- Sir David is already under fire after the Mid-Staffordshire scandal
- United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust is now being investigated
Damning new questions have been raised about the most powerful man in the NHS – by a whistleblower paid £500,000 to stay quiet over the state of his hospital.
Former hospital chief executive Gary Walker sensationally broke his silence to reveal he was driven from his job after warning NHS boss Sir David Nicholson that patients were in danger as long as four years ago.
He received the hush money to prevent him going public with his fears that the ‘target culture’ at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals trust could cost lives – but last night risked legal action from the NHS to speak out.
Under fire: Gary Walker's (pictured left) revelations place more pressure on NHS chief Sir David Nicholson (right) who is already facing calls to quit over the Mid-Staffordshire scandal
The trust is now being investigated over fears that as many as 500 patients may have died needlessly because of poor care.
Sir David, who presided over the Mid Staffordshire scandal, said last week he was ‘not ashamed’ to remain in his job despite calls to quit from relatives of those who died because of his failure to take action during his time as a regional watchdog seven years ago.
Now Mr Walker has broken rank to say that he warned Sir David about the state of care at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals trust four years ago – but was ‘thrown to the wolves’ for speaking out.
Today the trust is at the centre of a major investigation over its alarmingly high death rates. It risks becoming another Mid Staffordshire, where up to 1,200 patients died at Stafford Hospital because of appalling failures in care.
Last night Mr Walker said Sir David ignored him when he raised his concerns in 2009. He was forced out of his job the following year.
He claimed the NHS chief was ‘not interested in patient safety’ and called on him to resign to end the ‘culture of fear’ he had created in the NHS.
Mr Walker has been emboldened by last week’s demand from Robert Francis, QC, who led the Stafford inquiry, that NHS whistleblowers should be protected.
Silenced: Mr Walker received the hush money to prevent him going public with his fears that the 'target culture' at the trust that manages three hospitals including Lincoln County Hospital, could cost lives
Last night he said: ‘I want David Nicholson to be held to account. I warned him that this was going to happen.
'I warned him that Lincolnshire was going to become the next Mid Staffordshire. He didn’t investigate those concerns, and now look what’s happened.’
Sir David is already under pressure to leave his £270,000-a-year post over his links to the Mid Staffordshire scandal.
He was in charge of the regional health board that had overall responsibility for the trust between 2005 and 2006.
Emboldened: Mr Walker has been bouyed by the findings of Robert Francis' (pictured) inquiry into the failings at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust
Sir David also appointed the trust’s chief executive Martin Yeates – even though he had no managerial training – who later sacked dozens of nurses.
Then in 2008, as chief executive of the NHS, he is said to have dismissed concerns of relatives who died at the trust as ‘simply lobbying.’
A petition urging him to resign has so far received 1,800 signatures, and the testimony of Mr Walker will pile further pressure on him to give up his lucrative post.
Mr Walker says he warned Sir David in 2009 that things were going badly wrong at his hospital trust, where hundreds of patients are now suspected to have died needlessly over the past two years.
Under fire: Sir David Nicholson is already under pressure to leave his £270,000-a-year post over his links to the Mid Staffordshire scandal
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