The chief executive of an NHS hospital trust where police are investigating the possible manslaughter of more than 90 patients is to step down.
George Findlay said he was “very proud” of his 10 years at University Hospitals Sussex NHS trust, including the last three years as its chief executive.
Announcing he would be handing over the job to an as-yet-unnamed successor this month, he acknowledged it had been a “hugely demanding job”.
His departure comes as Sussex police continue to investigate possible corporate and individual manslaughter charges over allegations of medical negligence and a cover-up at the trust, first revealed in the Guardian in June 2023.
Operation Bramber is focused on the deaths of more than 90 patients and serious harm suffered by more than 100 others, in the general surgery and neurosurgery departments of Royal Sussex county hospital in Brighton.
There is no suggestion that Finlay’s departure is linked to the police investigation.
His resignation comes more than a year after the Royal College of Surgeons questioned the suitability of the leadership team at the trust after it found a “culture of fear” and “bullying” in its operating theatres.
Findlay is named as a respondent in two pending employment tribunal cases against the trust by senior whistleblowers.
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Krishna Singh, an eminent surgeon still employed by the trust, claimed he lost his post as the trust’s clinical director after raising concerns about patient safety, citing some of the deaths now under investigation.
Mansoor Foroughi, a consultant neurosurgeon, alleges he was sacked by Findlay in December 2021 after he raised concerns about 19 deaths and 23 cases of serious patient harm in the previous six years.
The trust, which is defending the claims, has said it is not appropriate to comment publicly about the personal matters of past or present staff members.
When he was deputy chief executive, under the previous chief executive, Marianne Griffiths, Findlay was praised by the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt for creating “perhaps the best learning culture I saw anywhere in the NHS”.
Findlay said his departure would allow his successor to lead the trust strategy for 2025-30.
He said: “Leading such a large, diverse organisation is a hugely demanding job and I do not anticipate continuing to do so for a further five years. That means this is the right moment to make a change.”
Staff at the trust, and the families of those who have died or were harmed after alleged negligence, welcomed Findlay’s departure.
Simon Chilcott, whose son, Lewis, died in July 2021 after an alleged error in a tracheostomy led to infection and a fatal arterial haemorrhage, said: “There should have been a change in leadership a long time ago because there are so many problems there.”
Audrey Sharma, whose husband was left severely disabled in 2020 after he was misdiagnosed as having a grade 4 tumour requiring an immediate operation, said: “Findlay’s resignation is long overdue given the inadequate services offered to Sussex patients whilst he has been in charge.”
She called for surgeons under suspicion for negligence to be suspended or sacked.
The trust has said it is not appropriate to comment publicly about the personal matters of any individual staff member, whether currently or previously employed.