The chief executive of the debt-ridden West Sussex Health Authority has quit.

Peter Catchpole has resigned from his £90,000 a year job with the body to pursue an academic career involving research into health care management.

Mr Catchpole, who once stood as Conservative general election candidate, was behind the controversial decision to downgrade Crawley Hospital and transfer services to the East Surrey Hospital at Redhill. Campaigners still trying to save the hospital were delighted to hear Mr Catchpole was leaving.

Chris Bird, chair of the Crawley Hospital Campaign said: "We are glad to see the back of him. It was purely a political appointment by the last Government and all such political appointments in the NHS should now end.

"As the person who has presided over cutbacks at Crawley Hospital, we are delighted to see him gone. Let us hope Health Secretary Alan Milburn will not now go ahead with Mr Catchpole's plans for this hospital."

Mr Catchpole, 52, had been told by Heath Secretaries Alan Milburn and Frank Dobson to do something about the authority's crippling £6 million debts, which staff and patients feared might lead to cuts in health care provision. He had drawn up a four-year action plan to get West Sussex Health Authority into the black.

Initially Michael Taylor, the chief executive of Oxfordshire Health Authority, will take on Mr Catchpole's role from April 1. It will be a temporary appointment while the job is advertised. Mr Catchpole's colleagues say his sudden decision to quit has

nothing to do with the cash crisis at West Sussex, which has been ongoing for the past five years.

They insist the health supremo is leaving because he wants to pursue an

academic career studying for a doctorate in health management. Brian Hughes, director of corporate services, said: "Mr Catchpole has always said he did not want to do this job forever. Why should he want to resign because of the debts? These have been on going for the past four to five years.

"The Crawley Hospital decision does not come into it, either. He has played an important role in health care in West Sussex over the past 22 years and we will very much miss his input."

Mr Catchpole's wife, Elizabeth, will continue working for West Sussex Health Authority. She landed the post of public participation co-ordinator four years ago with the brief of improving the authority's public image and is now on secondment to Guild Care.

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