NHS Grampian patient care whistleblower quits post

Malcolm Loudon will leave NHS Grampian at the end of the month

A whistleblower who went direct to the Scottish government to raise concerns about NHS Grampian has revealed he has quit his post in frustration.

Speaking to BBC Scotland, cancer specialist Malcolm Loudon said he felt he had no option but to approach former health secretary Alex Neil.

The findings of a series of subsequent investigations were published earlier.

NHS Grampian has accepted all the recommendations of the reports and apologised to patients.

A report by Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) said patient care at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary faces a "serious impact" if problems are not "urgently addressed".

It made 13 recommendations for improvement for NHS Grampian.

'Breaking point'

It identified concerns about leadership and culture which are impacting on the quality of care.

One of the surgical units at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary was described as "significantly dysfunctional".

Mr Loudon told BBC Scotland he will leave his job at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary at the end of this month.

He described the working environment at NHS Grampian as having "all the features of a toxic organisation".

He said: "We are like an elastic that is stretched almost to breaking point but we have managed to maintain that level of safety despite everything.

"A toxic culture is defined by where people are unhappy, they don't want to come to their work, turnover is high, there are high rates of sickness and there is no feeling of shared values between management and between those who are actually delivering the services."

NHS Grampian has declined to respond to Mr Loudon's accusations.