Sudden departure of NHS CEO ‘relates to irregularities he was himself investigating’

Martin Shipton

Extraordinary claims have been made that the sudden departure of a Health Trust’s chief executive relates to allegations of financial and legal mismanagement that he was helping to investigate.

Velindre University NHS Health Trust has told us that the content of an email received by Nation.Cymru is “unsubstantiated and inaccurate”.

Last weekend we reported how the Trust’s CEO David Donegan had left abruptly after only a year in the post.

He had been responsible for overseeing a controversial major project costing nearly £1bn to build a new Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff.

But according to the email, Mr Donegan’s departure relates to NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP), which is hosted by Velindre NHS Trust and provides a wide range of administrative, professional, and technical services to the NHS in Wales. These services include payroll, pensions, recruitment, and procurement, all aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing bureaucracy across NHS Wales.

The email to Nation.Cymru, signed Concerned Staff at VCC (Velindre Cancer Centre) states: “A number of us in the Trust read your article [about Mr Donegan’s departure] over the weekend, and while we have been told very vociferously by the Trust that we must not make any comment or speak to our CEO, we feel it is important that we share some of what we understand about what is going on, as David has been a really welcome change and we feel that he is being treated very unfairly.

“He may not be able to speak for himself at this time. While none of us are perfect, David has been doing great work over the past year, and most of us were very excited by his vision and enjoying working with a clinical chief executive who was so passionate about patients and staff. A number of us have reached out to him personally since we saw the Trust note, and believe that he is very shocked by what has happened but can’t yet say more for some reason.

“We understand that this is not about his main role at all but rather whatever has happened is all about serious concerns and potentially a scandal that the CEO and previous Chair (Ms Donna Mead) had exposed earlier in the year about NHS Wales Shared Services, which you may not be aware is hosted and employed by the Trust.

“We draw your attention to the Trust’s 24/25 Annual Account and page 113 for example, where David Donegan makes references to concerns publicly.”

Annual report

The relevant section of the Annual Report, signed by Mr Donegan, states: “No significant internal control or governance issues have been identified during the financial year (ended 31st March 2025 and up to the date of approval of the 2024-2025 Annual Report and Accounts) in relation to the Trust’s core services. Governance concerns have however been raised by the Trust in relation to Shared Services. The concerns are wide ranging and have been escalated, however at the current time, do not give any cause for concern that the consolidated financial accounts are affected or in any way inaccurate.

“We look forward to discussing the outcomes of the review commissioned by the Welsh Government into these matters and working with our auditors to explore whether future structured assessments and internal audit plans go beyond core services to support the Board in properly exercising its responsibilities in respect to the entity as a whole, including hosted services.”

The email continues: “ I believe this was also shared with Audit Wales and the Cabinet Secretary. We understand that there are concerns about criminal misconduct and financial impropriety, with a number of senior directors in shared services getting big pay rises and now being paid more than some of the trust executives.”

Mismanagement

The email goes on to suggest that attempts are being made to “silence” Mr Donegan before he was due to be interviewed by a London barrister who has been appointed to review evidence relating to financial and legal mismanagement and review claims of bullying and intimidation by those implicated.

The email states: “We can find no one who has heard he was suspended or that there was any hearing, and believe this has come as a shock to him out of the blue.

“While he has tried to hide it, we believe David has been in fear of his position for some time as a number of the individuals implicated are very close personally and potentially very powerful. We believe that there was a report done by a friend of the Welsh Government in July but that they won’t share it.

“One person told us that they believe that Mr Donegan told the new trust chair that he could not be held accountable for the Trust’s annual accounts again unless immediate action was taken, and that he had concerns for the clinical safety of some of these services. We had also complained about some of the executives to Mr Donegan, and that he was taking action against some of them, so maybe they have tried to protect themselves by making claims too.

“The Trust needs stable and good leadership. There have been management culture issues between the executive and us for years, and Mr Donegan was finally beginning to tackle these. We wanted to see more of him, but understand that he has had to spend a lot of time investigating the concerns that were brought to his attention when he started.

“We don’t want to lose our CEO, and any help you can give in getting him back would be of huge help to us. We feel scared to speak up now, because of how Mr Donegan has been treated, so may not be able to publicly support him which we feel guilty about.”

We asked the NHS Trust and the Welsh Government to comment on the content of the email.

‘Inaccurate’

A spokesperson for Velindre University NHS Trust said: “The content of the anonymous letter you have shared with us is unsubstantiated and inaccurate. It is not the Trust’s practice to publicly comment on employment matters, let alone to respond to unattributed allegations of conspiracies across multiple public bodies.”

The Welsh Government declined to comment.

The Trust has offered no explanation for Mr Donegan’s abrupt departure.