'Swearing' chief executive Gary Walker fights NHS over dismissal

Gary Walker, who was credited with turning around the debt-laden United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, was dismissed for using bad language after four years in the post.

The 39-year-old father of two was ousted from his 150,000-a-year job earlier this year and the Trust announced it was recruiting a replacement. But Walker claims he was sacked as part of a row over putting targets before patients.

The trust's former chairman David Bowles, who previously resigned over pressure to meet targets, said Walker lost his job because he refused to be a "yes-man".

He said the swearing was just an excuse to get rid of him.

Yesterday, Walker – who has now decided to stand as an independent candidate in Lincoln against Health Minister Gillian Merron in the General Election – said he was taking the trust to an employment tribunal.

He said he could not say exactly how much he was hoping to win in damages from the trust.

Walker said: "The figure of 1 million has been reported but I'm not saying an exact figure. It could be more, it could be less but as my lawyers have told me I have got to demonstrate that I was victimised and I certainly think I was. I can't give you an exact quote about the money but I'm certainly taking them to an employment tribunal and I'm very confident I will win.

"The whistle-blowing claim is going to be harder but I certainly think there's a lot of paperwork to back it up."

He said the paperwork had been completed and now gets sent to the tribunal, which would inform the trust and set a date for a tribunal.

"I don't know how quickly it will happen," Walker added, "it could take months."

He said if he won, he planned to pay off his legal bills then donate half of the remaining money to charity.

He added: "This isn't about money, what my entire claim is about is that I was in a position where I was being told to hit targets and I was raising concerns about patient safety."

A spokeswoman for the trust said: "Patient safety has always been and will continue to be the top priority of this trust."