NHS Highland bosses have been accused of “gross misconduct” over their handling of the authority’s financial troubles.
Chief executive Elaine Mead and finance director Nick Kenton were told they had treated board members “like mushrooms” – by keeping them in the dark until the last minute over the need for a Scottish Government bailout.
The pair will now be hauled before the Scottish Parliament’s public audit committee after their behaviour was condemned as “a scandal” yesterday.
Holyrood financial watchdogs denounced the chiefs’ use of “the nod, the wink, the private conversation”, saying it had left no paper trail which could be used to hold decision-makers to account.
The criticism follows last month’s damning report by Auditor General for Scotland Caroline Gardner into the board’s financial mismanagement.
It has now emerged that Ms Mead and Mr Kenton discussed the health board’s financial position with the Scottish Government in December 2013, but did not “formally” advise members that NHS Highland would not break even at the end of the financial year.
In February this year, the Scottish Government was approached over the need for a loan, known as brokerage, but officers did not report the £2.5million deal to board members until the end of the financial year.
Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon said she was shocked by the revelations.
“I would have thought that is tantamount to gross misconduct,” she said.
Committee convener Hugh Henry said: “The more I hear the worse it becomes.
“It is a scandal that these senior officers are treating the board like mushrooms – they are best kept in the dark.”
NHS Highland declined to comment on the allegations yesterday.
But during her committee appearance, the auditor general said the financial problems and brokerage had not been raised formally with the board, although they were discussed informally at development meetings.
Mr Henry said: “I think the fact there were informal discussions makes it even worse because the informal discussion won’t appear in any record anywhere that the public can examine and hold the board to account.
“The nod, the wink, the private conversation that there is a problem frankly seems to be a way of getting around public scrutiny and proper public accountability.”
He said either the board was “complicit” in the lack of proper governance or it had been kept in the dark by senior management.
“Somewhere right along the line there is, I think, a chronic failure of this board to hold the executives to account or else a failure of the senior staff to advise the board,” he said.
“Either way is it is a significant failure.To have a board that is not formally told there are discussions with the Scottish Government about brokerage is an outrage.”
Ms Gardner told the committee: “One of the reasons the report is here is that the way this was handled means there is no formal record of minutes put to the board and of the decision taken.
“That makes it hard for us to see and understand the level of board discussion and the action taken.”
Dr Jean Turner of the Scottish Patients Association, said it was a “dreadful” situation.
“It is something that needs to be thoroughly investigated to find out what was going wrong, why did things happen the way they did, and to try and fix it,” she said.