A TORY MP is calling for a top level meeting following the sacking of three members of a health trust board.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans wants to meet Health Secretary Frank Dobson in the wake of the sackings of the non-executive members of the Guild Trust Board.

The minister called for the board of the trust to resign following a series of scandals.

Chief Executive Les Howell was suspended on full pay last year and there have been two full scale inquiries into the running of Whittingham Hospital near Longridge.

Both inquiries criticised the trust after patients released from the secure unit at Whittingham went on to commit serious crimes.

Two non-executive members of the board stepped down in the aftermath of the minister's intervention.

But Dr Roger Kendle, Mrs Rosemary Jolly and Mrs Ursual Walton were sacked after refusing to resign.

A spokesman for the NHS North West Regional Office said: "In calling for the resignations, the Secretary of State said his principal concern was with the NHS trust's staff and patients.

" The minister had concluded that relations between members of the Guild Board had become irreconcilable and he asked them all to resign for the sake of the trust's staff and the people it serves."

Christine Kirk, a Read businesswoman, has since stepped down as chairman of Calderstones Trust to take over at the Guild for the next six months.

Nigel Evans said: "These three non-executive directors have been sacked for doing their job.

"Their treatment at the hands of the Secretary of State for Health has been quite appalling.

"As well as seeking a meeting with the Secretary of State I am aiming to raise a debate on this issue in the House of Commons immediately and I have already put down questions that the Health Secretary needs to answer."

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