NHS boss quits after ‘witch-hunt’ against whistleblower… but he will continue to receive his £270k salary for another year
- Dr Stephen Dunn quit ahead of a critical report about the way West Suffolk Hospital ‘effectively ignored’ warnings about a senior clinician’s drug taking
- Colleagues said they had seen the consultant anaesthetist – known only as Dr A – injecting himself with painkillers while caring for patients
- Despite stepping down Dr Dunn will continue to be paid £275,000 salary until September next year
An NHS trust boss who quit amid outrage over a whistleblower ‘witch hunt’ is continuing to draw up to £275,000 a year in salary and pension contributions.
Dr Stephen Dunn stepped down in the summer ahead of a highly critical report about the way West Suffolk Hospital ‘effectively ignored’ warnings about a senior clinician’s drug taking.
Colleagues said they had seen the consultant anaesthetist – known only as Dr A – injecting himself with painkillers while caring for patients.
But West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust came under fire after it hired fingerprint and handwriting experts to identify the author of an anonymous letter which claimed the anaesthetist should not have been involved in a botched operation.
Dr Stephen Dunn, who quit amid outrage over a whistleblower ‘witch hunt’, is continuing to draw up to £275,000 a year in salary and pension contributions
Despite stepping down amid the scandal, it has emerged that former chief executive Dr Dunn will continue to be paid until September next year – a situation the Doctors’ Association described as ‘deeply concerning’.
Association chairman Dr Jenny Vaughan said: ‘Saying that they [trust leaders] ‘accept their 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 witch hunt began after the anonymous letter was sent to retired police officer Jon Warby, whose wife Susan, 57, died five weeks after bowel surgery at the hospital in Bury St Edmunds in 2018.
The trust spent £1,512 on a fingerprint expert and £968 on a handwriting specialist while warning staff that ‘refusal to provide consent… would be considered evidence that implicates you as being involved in the writing of the letter’. Dr Patricia Mills (pictured), who was among the suspects, revealed the hunt had made her ill
Dr Stephen Dunn stepped down in the summer ahead of a highly critical report about the way West Suffolk Hospital ‘effectively ignored’ warnings about a senior clinician’s drug taking (file image)
It claimed the anaesthetist should not have been at work during the operation because he had ‘injected himself with drugs’. The whistleblower also warned of a ‘cover-up’ and advised Mr Warby to ask ‘questions about this doctor and what investigations had been had about him before’.
An inquest later concluded Mrs Warby’s death was not directly caused by the consultant. But the trust tried to identify the whistleblower in what was described as ‘an intimidating process that distressed and damaged individual staff members’, according to an independent report from NHS Improvement this month.
The trust spent £1,512 on a fingerprint expert and £968 on a handwriting specialist while warning staff that ‘refusal to provide consent… would be considered evidence that implicates you as being involved in the writing of the letter’.
Dr Patricia Mills, who was among the suspects, revealed the hunt had made her ill and said: ‘I thought I was going to lose my 30-year career.’
Although Dr Dunn is still formally employed by the trust, he is on secondment to health think-tank the Nuffield Trust where he works in a ‘non-managerial capacity’ in research.
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