Evening Mail probe wins backing of South Cumbria MPs
Last updated at 16:45, Wednesday, 30 January 2013
THE Evening Mail’s probe into the secret deal surrounding the departure of disgraced hospital boss Tony Halsall has won support from South Cumbria’s MPs.
We revealed on Monday, our ongoing battle to establish the facts of any financial arrangement between the University
Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and its former chief executive, who stepped down in February 2012 after years of problems at UHMBT.
The trust, which runs Furness General Hospital, has signed a strict confidentiality agreement with Mr Halsall. It prevents the disclosure of details of his departure, including whether he worked his six-month notice period and whether he was paid for it.
The Evening Mail has now complained to the Information Commissioner, the UK’s independent authority which upholds information rights in the public interest.
The trust’s interim chairman, Sir David Henshaw, told the newspaper such agreements are common in both the public and private sectors and are “part of the legal structure of this country”.
But Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock said: “The Evening Mail is right to highlight this issue and call for change.
The public pay for the health service through our taxes and we deserve to know how our money is being spent.
“It’s not fair to the taxpayers and patients that they can do these deals, and I will be asking questions in Parliament as to how this can be allowed to happen at a trust which is funded by, and is supposed to serve, patients and the
public.”
Meanwhile, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron said: “I think there is a fine line between what is a personal matter and a matter which is of strategic importance and of public interest.
“When there has been failure it’s important that we recover from that properly and part of that process is knowing how we moved on and how we got to where we are now.
“I think it’s important that the public knows these things, and then the public can make a judgement as to whether what the trust did was right and whether what the NHS as a whole did was right.
“We need and deserve to know.”
First published at 10:24, Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
Tim Farron rushing to join a bandwagon is hardly news! Tony Halsall is washed-up and discredited and yesterday's news.
If the Mail wanted a REAL campaign on today's issues maybe it should be asking Tim Farron why he voted in London for the NHS cuts which are closing local services before coming back to Cumbria and acting as if he didn't and behaving as if the cuts are all someone else's fault.
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Secret golden handshake again no doubt and we wonder why FGH needs to close a ward, as announced to ward staff concerned yesterday.
Posted by James on 31 January 2013 at 07:44