A DOCTOR from the region has proposed a vote of no confidence in the country’s chief nursing officer after comments she made in a newspaper article.

Dr Clive Peedell, a cancer services specialist in Middlesbrough and health campaigner, led the motion which will be debated by the governing council of the British Medical Association tomorrow.

It follows comments made by chief nursing officer Professor Jayne Cummings, who said she wanted more investment in community care, but at the expense of cuts to acute care NHS beds.

Dr Peedell, who works at the James Cook University Hospital and is a member of the BMA’s governing body, said: “This is a dangerous and negligent approach in the context of an ongoing crisis in the NHS with many hospitals on black alert (hospitals at full capacity, closed to further admissions), routine operations being cancelled including cancer surgery, a lack of provision of mental services, a collapsing social care system, and general practice in meltdown.”

He said if she had called for extra investment to improve community services he would have supported her, but she had called for more NHS efficiency savings under the government’s “Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs), which he said were driven by a mandate to achieve £22bn of NHS savings by 2020.

He said her role was to promote patient safety, but criticised the fact staffing had been cut to the bone, leading to a spiralling locum bill for healthcare professions and cancelled operations.

He added: “It is vital our clinical leaders are able to speak truth to power and don’t succumb to political interference.” NHS England was contacted for a comment.