NHS £1M BILL IN ROW WITH DOC
A TOP consultant claims the NHS spent £1million fighting him after he tried to turn whistleblower.
Neurosurgeon James Akinwunmi, 52, says his marriage collapsed and his children were estranged as he battled to expose alleged failings at his hospital.
He was sacked and claims chiefs spent the fortune fighting to stop him highlighting wrongs they still deny.
“It nearly destroyed me,” said Mr Akinwunmi, a doctor for 30 years.
Last month Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust lost its appeal against an employment tribunal ruling tha that it fired him unfairly. The ver verdict came after he refused to ret return to a “hostile” workplace wh where colleagues isolated him. H He alleged NHS emergencies were turned away while on-call staff tre treated private patients. He also alleged some staff were fraudulently claiming double pay. The trust said that its investigation concluded there was no case to answer.
But the tribunal said it did not address baseless claims that he made violent threats. The trust had also settled a claim for race discriminationnation against him.
He said his standnd cost him more than £ 100,000 in legal fees. “Doctors who whistleblow will never be protected,” he said. “Nobody will admit their fault.
“My marriage failed because of all this and my children never saw me.” But he said he’d do it over again and will fight on to p prove the NHS can’t force him out. SCREEN heart-throb Orlando Bloom shows off his taut torso as he emerges from the sea during a sunshine break in France. The Pirates of the Carribean star, 40 is enjoying a holiday at Arsen-Ré on the Bay of Biscay with his son Flynn, six, from his marriage to ex-wife Miranda Kerr, 34. But he will struggle to get an all-over tan with those long trunks. They look more like a pair of... Bloomers.