'Witch hunt' Suffolk NHS boss still paid after stepping down

Dr Stephen Dunn's package at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in Bury St Edmunds is worth £275,000 a year

An NHS boss whose executive team sought fingerprint samples as it hunted a hospital whistle-blower is still being paid months after quitting his job.

Dr Stephen Dunn is being employed by West Suffolk NHS Trust until next September on a £270,000 salary and pension package.

The Doctors' Association said the payments were "deeply concerning".

The Trust and Dr Dunn have been approached by the BBC, but neither have provided a comment.

Dr Dunn stood down as chief executive in August, ahead of the publication of a highly critical report into the way the leadership at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds "effectively ignored" concerns over a senior clinician's drug taking.

It also described how other staff members were targeted after raising their concerns.

Dr Patricia Mills said she felt her career was under threat after she raised concerns about a colleague's use of pain-killing drugs

An anaesthetist at the hospital, known as Dr A, had been seen by colleagues injecting himself with painkillers while caring for patients.

Handwriting and fingerprinting experts were employed to try to identify the writer of an anonymous letter to the husband of a patient, Susan Warby, who died in 2018.

The letter claimed that Dr A, who was in the theatre during her operation, "should never have been at work" and that there "had been a big cover up".

Incorrect intravenous fluids had been administered during her operation for a perforated bowel, though an inquest concluded that the consultant concerned had not directly caused her death.

The 226-page report, by Christine Outram for NHS Improvement, detailed how management had singled out seven members of staff who were asked for the handwriting samples, including consultant Dr Patricia Mills.

Dr Mills denied being the letter writer, but had previously raised concerns about the anaesthetist, only to find herself facing questions over her own conduct.

She was exonerated in the report, telling the BBC: "I thought I was going to lose my 30-year career doing a job that I absolutely loved."

The trust issued an apology following the publication of the report.

Two other executives criticised in the report have left the Trust, which runs the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds

Recent accounts for the Trust show that Dr Dunn's annual salary and pension benefits for last year totalled £270,000-275,000.

The Trust confirmed he was still employed by them but was on secondment to the Nuffield Trust, a health think tank.

It is understood Dr Dunn is working out the remainder of his employment, which includes his contractual notice period.

'Debacle'

Chairwoman of the the Doctors' Association, Dr Jenny Vaughan, said: "What is deeply concerning is why lead members of the executive, who were responsible, are still on the trust payroll on apparently the same terms.

"Without hounding people, in the way Dr Patricia Mills was treated by them, there must be accountability by management for this debacle.

"Saying that they 'accept the failings and shortcomings' in no way makes up for the damage that has been done. They need to show this by their actions.

"Continuing to take a full pay-packet while clinging to their position after such a devastating report speaks volumes about the seriousness with which these findings are being taken."

The Nuffield Trust said that Dr Dunn was working in a "non-managerial capacity for us on specific research projects, including on infection prevention and control for the new hospital building programme post-pandemic".

They said he remained a formal employee of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Dunn announced his intention to step down as chief executive in July.

This followed announcements from two other executive directors at the centre of the hunt for the letter writer, who also announced they were leaving.

Chief operating officer Helen Beck and medical director Nick Jenkins were also criticised in the Outram report.