Complaints from families and campaigners have been cited as reasons for the departure of Katrina Percy from her advisory role at Southern Health, the under-fire hospital trust.
Dr Sara Ryan, mother of 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk, who drowned in a bath at a Southern Health-run residential unit, said the work of families and campaigners had helped to prompt Ms Percy’s departure.
Gone: former Southern Health boss Katrina Percy
Ms Percy headed the trust when an NHS England investigation found it failed to investigate hundreds of deaths over a four-year period.
She was later shifted into an advisory role, but kept her £190,000 salary.
Public backlash
But the trust arranged for her to leave immediately after admitting a public backlash when she was kept on played a part in its decision.
However, the deal sees her pocket £190,000, or a year’s salary.
Dr Ryan told the Oxford Mail: “I’m glad she’s gone, but she shouldn’t have lasted as long as she did and the pay-out is scandalous.
“The rest of the board need a good old shake-out now. It shouldn’t have taken families and campaigners making so much noise to get to this point.”
In a statement the trust said it made its decision in conjunction with watchdog NHS Improvement.
The statement read: “Both the Trust and NHS Improvement believe it is no longer possible for Katrina to continue in her new advisory role.”
A BBC investigation alleged that the trust paid millions to companies owned by Ms Percy’s previous associates.
One firm was reported to have received more than £5m despite winning a contract valued at less than £300,000, while it’s alleged another was paid more than £500,000 without bidding at all.
The trust insisted Ms Percy was not under investigation over the contracts. The deals had previously been the subject of purely routine auditing work in October 2012 and January 2013, said a trust spokesperson.
Published: 12 October 2016
