Doctors demand managers resign

Furious doctors yesterday demanded the resignation of the chief executive of an NHS trust after he issued redundancy notices to medical staff following the loss of a contract to a rival hospital.

The call was made at an emergency meeting of 61 consultants at the Morriston Hospital, Swansea, in South Wales, following a vote of no-confidence in chief executive Tony Beddow and the trust chairman Peter Allen.

The move by the consultants followed a decision by the trust to make two consultants, a third doctor and 12 staff redundant. The redundancy notices were issued after the loss of a pounds 1.6m care for the elderly contract to a second hospital trust in Swansea. But after a furious row last week, the notices were apparently withdrawn with the idea that attempts could be made to find the doctors jobs elsewhere in the area.

The British Medical Association says the chief executive has little choice but to resign because it would be impractical to stay on. "The consultants want resignations and I am sure he will have to resign," said Dr Bob Broughton, Welsh secretary of the BMA. "There is no way a chief executive can continue to stay in place if he has lost the confidence of the senior staff."

Both the doctors and the BMA were furious about the way the redundancy issue was handled and after a three-hour meeting passed a no-confidence vote and issued a statement saying: "The consultant body has no confidence in the chief executive and chairman of the NHS trust."

Dr Broughton said: "It was a huge turnout in the middle of the holiday period and there was overwhelming criticism, and I suspect there will be continuing pressure. I am sure the medical managers will have further things to say about the chief executive staying on. It compromises their position.

"We are concerned there were more redundancies likely, and there are wider implications for other areas within Wales. We want to make it clear that this kind of gung-ho approach to redundancies is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."

Morriston is one of the flagship trusts in Wales and its hospital includes the region's burns and plastic surgery centre, considered to be one of the best in the UK with an international reputation.

Neither Mr Beddow nor Mr Allen were available for comment yesterday.