A whistleblower who sparked a scathing review of NHS Grampian has revealed he will quit his post in frustration at the board.
Cancer specialist Malcolm Loudon said he felt he had no option but to approach former health secretary Alex Neil in the summer over concerns over staffing levels and perceived management failures at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
His comments prompted an independent review by Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) of the hospital, the results of which were published yesterday.
The review uncovered concerns over leadership, governance, culture and the inappropriate behaviour of some staff.
It said shortfalls in these areas “had the potential to have a more serious impact” if not urgently addressed by NHS Grampian.
The health board has accepted all the recommendations of the reports and apologised to patients.
Mr Loudon said will leave his job at ARI at the end of this month.
He described the working environment at NHS Grampian as having all the features of a “toxic organisation”.
“We are like an elastic that is stretched almost to breaking point but we have managed to maintain that level of safety despite everything,” he said.
“A toxic culture is defined by where people are unhappy, they don’t want to come to their work, turnover is high, there are high rates of sickness and there is no feeling of shared values between management and between those who are actually delivering the services.”
NHS Grampian refused to comment.