NHS Lothian chief axed in wake of bullying culture claims

Jane Todd, who was director of operations, was suspended following the critical audits earlier this year that uncovered the scandals.

Ms Todd, who was based at the Western General Hospital, was responsible for providing waiting list figures to NHS Lothian chief operating officer Jackie Sansbury, which later turned out to be incorrect.

It is understood that she was also dismissed over allegations of bullying and her treatment of staff. She intends to appeal her sacking.

Ex-NHS Lothian chief executive James Barbour retired following the publication of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report into waiting times, while Ms Sansbury, who Ms Todd reported to, was demoted.

Another report, by David J Bowles & Associates, revealed a bullying culture at the health board following its probe.

A source said: “This wasn’t a ground-level grunt, she was a very senior person. It’s a big head that’s been chopped. This was one of the senior managers that was responsible for what went on with waiting times. It was found that she was involved with the supervision of it and was complicit with what was going on.

“She was reporting these figures to the senior team through Jackie Sansbury, so the board was in the dark as to what was going on. The figures suggested there wasn’t a problem, but they weren’t the right figures.”

The source added: “It wasn’t a crime of ignorance. The feeling is that she must have known exactly what was going on. That was the area she was overseeing.

“She wasn’t behaving properly with the staff. She was putting so much pressure on and it’s no wonder that the figures were coming back as they did.”