Disgraced NHS chief’s advisory role at business school revealed

A FORMER NHS chief executive who fraudulently paid her husband more than £11,000 from her budget had an advisory role at a Yorkshire university while the investigation into her was going on, it has emerged.

Paula Vasco-Knight will be sentenced next month after admitting fraud while in charge of South Devon NHS Foundation Trust. She paid her husband, Stephen Vasco-Knight, £11,072 to produce a document named Transform, meant to improve leadership qualities in CEOs.

But the 200-page document was never made and Mrs VascoKnight failed to declare any interest in her husband’s company.

After being approached by The Yorkshire Post, the University of Leeds has now revealed that the 53-year-old was an unpaid visiting fellow at its business school from June 2014 to September 2015.

A university spokesman has said it has found no evidence officials were aware of allegations of fraud during her tenure, although the investigation by NHS Protect started in March 2014 and continued into 2015, while she was still in her post.

But in an email from 2014 seen by this newspaper, the business school’s dean, Professor Peter Moizer, defended her appointment despite her previously having been the subject of a high profile employment tribunal.

Dr Vasco-Knight previously worked at Torbay and Devon NHS Foundation Trust, where she became the first Black and Minority Ethnic female chief executive of a foundation trust in 2008.

In the January 2014 New Year Honours List, she was awarded a CBE for her work across the NHS.

But her time at Torbay and Devon was marred by an employment tribunal, where she was criticised for her treatment of two whistleblowers who raised concerns about her recruitment of her daughter’s boyfriend to a job at Torbay hospital.

The allegations of nepotism led to her suspension from her job in February 2014. In May that year, Dr Vasco-Knight resigned.

But she pointed to an independent report commissioned by a former chair of the trust prior to the tribunal which found no evidence that she had breached trust policies.

Prof Moizer replied in September 2014 to a message from Dr David Senior, a retired consultant anaesthetist, who questioned whether Dr Vasco-Knight’s appointment at Leeds would damage the reputation of the university.

He wrote: “We did know about the allegations against Dr VascoeKnight (sic). We have worked with and known Dr Vascoe-Knight for some years at the Centre for Innovation in Health Management.

“She has been a well-respected leader of healthcare, with a real concern for patients.”

He added: “The employment tribunal was as you say extensively covered in the Press. It is sad that the independent investigation which exonerated Dr VascoeKnight, was not equally covered in the Press, and that her significant achievements for patients were also overlooked.

“We are sad that these circumstances have overshadowed her significant work for patients and for the NHS, which are of real value to our work in securing real change for patients and their carers. We, as you would expect, also took up references, and ensured that our own local health leaders who support the university were supportive of her appointment.”

The University of Leeds said: “Having reviewed this matter, it is apparent that she was taken on in good faith and we have found nothing to indicate that the University was aware of allegations of fraudulent payments.”

£11,072 The amount Paula VascoKnight paid her husband for a leadership document that was never made.