Logo row put Sick Kids campaign chief at war with NHS

RELATIONS between health chiefs and the suspended director of the New Pyjamas Campaign began to break down when she refused to use the NHS logo on her website, it has emerged.

In e-mail exchanges between Elaine McGonigle and health board chief executive James Barbour, the subject of whether or not the NHS Lothian badge should appear on the official campaign website caused huge ructions.

It is the latest in a series of revelations about the appeal to raise 15 million for the new Sick Kids Hospital, which is at a standstill after Ms McGonigle's suspension.

The Evening News has obtained hundreds of e-mails relating to the crisis-hit campaign under freedom of information laws.

Today we publish extracts of e-mails between health chiefs and the Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF), which reveal misgivings about the campaign from more than a year ago which then intensified in the spring of last year. They include views from senior NHS Lothian officials that the SKFF and New Pyjamas were "working against each other"; and the SKFF dismissing Ms McGonigle's ambitions as "naive".

Mr Barbour's exasperation over the logo issue with Ms McGonigle is clear from the tone of an e-mail sent in June last year.

He told her: "Re the logo, I really don't understand all the complicated linkages in your e-mail.

"I see no reason why our logo can't go on the site forthwith. Please can you do this now and let me know when it has been done."

In an earlier e-mail, Mr Barbour told the chairman of the SKFF – which oversees the New Pyjamas appeal – of a fruitless meeting with Ms McGonigle in April.

In a message to Grant Macrae he wrote: "We had some satisfactory discussion with Elaine but the meeting foundered on her absolute refusal to allow the NHS Lothian logo to feature on the New Pyjamas website. Elaine tells me that the presence of our logo would be injurious and detrimental to fundraising by putting off potential donors. I find this inconceivable and it seems to me, as Elaine acknowledged, this is part of a wider issue in relation to the appeal and how it relates to the NHS."

The logo does now appear on the site, albeit very small and in the least prominent position possible.

The Evening News yesterday published details of a disciplinary hearing Ms McGonigle, who earns 70,000 a year, had been summoned to by the SKFF late last year, obtained under Freedom of Information. An audit revealed that Ms McGonigle – who was paid 70,000-a-year and stood to land a 50,000 bonus if the appeal was successful, faced questions over personal claims on the charity credit card.

The report also revealed only 25,000 had been brought in at a time when 6 million had been projected.

The SKFF have since described those forecasts as "naive".

Regret expressed by the SKFF is also obvious in the exchanges.

In a letter in December to NHS Lothian chairman Dr Charles Winstanley, SKFF trustee David Reith said: "We have the chance to work with you to create a world-class children's hospital here in Edinburgh. Unfortunately the last few months have felt like quite the opposite to excitement for us."