Governor Pauline quits hospital board in protest

A HOSPITAL governor has resigned with immediate effect after a furious bust-up with top brass at Burton’s healthcare trust.

Multi-million pound fund-raiser Pauline Spratt’s resignation has been announced to the council of governors at Burton’s Queen’s Hospital.

Mrs Spratt told the Mail she had become ‘disillusioned’ with her role as a governor and could no longer work with the hospital’s management.

“Ideas I put forward were not followed up by actions,” she said. “ “I felt a lot of disillusionment about how the governors were being used.

“Governors are elected and we sit on committees, but we are not being used properly. That’s how I feel.” Mrs Spratt, who has raised £2.5 million for the hospital and its patients during her lifetime, has been a governor for the past four years.

Mrs Spratt, of Highlands Drive, Winshill, will continue in her role as chairman of the Burton Hospitals League of Friends, a position she has held for two decades.

Her letter of resignation was handed to Jim Morrison, chairman of Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Queen’s.

He said: “I would like to thank Pauline for her contribution as a governor.” However, Mr Morrison said he was disappointed Mrs Spratt had stood down so soon after her re-election as a governor just a few months ago.

“I do hope that governors who are unhappy with proceedings in any sense use the options available to them,” he said. “If there are issues then there are channels available to address these.

“For her first port of call to be resignation is disappointing.

“I do not believe all the other routes had been used in this case.”

Mrs Spratt’s distinguished life has seen her win the Burtonian of the Year award and the Order of the League of Mercy, an accolade received from the Lord Mayor of London and only bestowed on 25 people each year.