HEALTH chiefs have agreed to make changes to avoid a repeat of the Richard Neale scandal.

The disgraced gynaecologist was struck off in 2000 after a catalogue of errors that left women in agonising pain and, in some cases, unable to have children.

Following a report into the scandal, Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust, in North Yorkshire, identified a number of changes it could make in the way it hired doctors.

These include the interview panel chairman contacting referees by telephone in future.

Trust clinical director Stephen Wild also proposed that any contact between applicants and interviewers, before the interview, be declared.

The board was also advised to put in place a clear system for dealing with complaints about doctors.

All these measurers were agreed by the board at a meeting yesterday.

In 1984, Neale was given a job at the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, despite questions about his competence being asked while he was working in Canada.

These concerns led to his name being erased from the Canadian medical register in 1985, but he continued to perform operations in the UK until 1998.