Ex-Hull health boss Phil Morley faces government inquiry

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The health secretary is to investigate allegations over the conduct of Phil Morley the former chief executive of Hull's hospital, an MP says.

Jeremy Hunt agreed to the inquiry in a meeting with the city's three Labour MPs, Hull North's Diana Johnson said.

Mr Morley resigned last year shortly before a report was published by conciliation service ACAS uncovered a bullying culture at the trust.

Mr Morley, now a health chief in Essex, "strongly refuted such allegations".

Ms Johnson, who attended the meeting alongside fellow MPs Alan Johnson and Karl Turner, said she was "delighted" the health secretary had agreed to investigate further.

'Difficult situation'

"Within a day of leaving that trust he gets a new job as a chief exec in a trust in the south," she said.

"£170,000 he is earning, having left, I think, a very difficult situation in Hull."

The report published by ACAS in October found staff at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital were subjected to "aggressive behaviour" including "the banging of fists, tutting, rolling of eyes and being pushed or prodded".

After leaving Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust in April 2014 Mr Morley became the chief executive at the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Harlow, Essex.

In a statement, Mr Morley said: "I have always exercised a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and was instrumental in taking the decision, proactively, to commission the ACAS report into bullying after concerns were raised by the CQC."