Debt scandal health chief in crony row

Tim Brett, who quit his 88,000-a-year post at Tayside Health Board following a 16m debt scandal, was given a reference for his new job by Trevor Jones, his former boss and current chief executive of the Scottish NHS.

Brett’s controversial appointment - just eight months after he resigned in disgrace - lead last night to accusations that cronyism was operating at the heart of the health service in Scotland.

A parliamentary investigation found that Brett, who was chief executive of Tayside Health Board, and three senior colleagues, had failed to manage public funds properly.

The financial crisis that followed crippled local services and resulted in an emergency 12m bail-out from the Scottish Executive.

Despite that, Brett has now been appointed director of the high-profile Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) on 55,000-a-year. It is believed to be the first time the key post has been held by a non-doctor.

SCIEH is responsible for monitoring the spread of deadly antibiotic resistant hospital superbugs as well as potentially lethal communicable diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B. It has a budget of 3.5m and around 60 staff.

Senior sources at the organisation have admitted that NHS Scotland chief executive Trevor Jones provided a written reference backing Brett as a candidate before his appointment was confirmed.

This has led to accusations of cronyism because the two men would have worked closely together while Brett was head of Tayside Health Board.

It has also emerged that SCIEH were aware of the potential for embarrassment surrounding Brett’s appointment and took the decision not to publicise it.

Tory health spokeswoman Mary Scanlon last night condemned the decision to appoint Brett as "unbelievable". She said: "I have heard of cases of cronyism but this beats them all. The health minister should intervene to look at the way this appointment was made to assure the public that Tim Brett is indeed the best man for the job."

Shadow health minister Nicola Sturgeon added: "I would have thought that Tim Brett wouldn’t find a senior appointment in the health service again given the indictment of his tenure at Tayside.

"And I would have expected medical experience to be required to head up this organisation."

But Stuart Bain, chief executive of the Common Services Agency, the body running SCIEH, defended the decision insisting Brett had been "by far the best candidate".

Bain, who was on the appointment panel that assessed Brett’s application, confirmed that he had been aware of his past record, adding that the Scottish Executive was consulted.

Describing Brett’s appointment as "considered and appropriate", he added: "Tim’s immediate past experience and history was known to the panel and was explored with him at interview and with his referees who included his immediate past employers, the clinicians with whom he had worked in Tayside and the Scottish Executive. He had appropriate and positive references from all those sources."

Last night, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive refused to comment on Jones’ involvement in the appointment. "This appointment is a issue for the Common Services Agency," she said. "The Scottish Executive would expect that best personnel practice was used to find the best person for the job," she said.

Brett was one of four senior managers to be named and shamed by the damning parliamentary inquiry for allowing debts of 10m to be run up by Tayside University Hospitals Trust between 1999 and 2000.

By March 2001 the debts had reached 15.9m, the biggest NHS deficit in Scotland. The report by the Scottish parliament’s powerful audit committee found they had mismanaged public funds and were responsible for a "loss of financial control".

"Public money was not being properly managed and those responsible were not being properly held to account," the report concluded.

Commenting on Brett’s role, the MSPs said they found some of his actions "difficult to believe".

They also challenged evidence from Brett and Paul White, the former chief executive of the hospital trust, who had partly blamed the financial crisis on Perth and Kinross healthcare trust for spending 300,000 on recruiting nurses without approval.

When the report was published last July, Brett was the only one of the four senior managers who had been named to still be in his post. He quit his job weeks later.

Two of the other senior managers have also secured new jobs in the NHS, both in England. Geoff Scaife, who was the chief executive of the NHS in Scotland at the time of the crisis, is now chief executive of Birmingham Health Authority.

Paul White, the former chief executive of Tayside University Hospital Trust, is now chief executive of the trust running St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. Sir William Stewart, chairman of the university trust at the time, is president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Last night, both Brett and Jones declined to comment.