WHEN newspapers are in the process of bringing scandals into the public domain, it is common practice for them to be accused of muck-raking and being sensationalist.

That was the case when The Northern Echo got its teeth into the Richard Neale saga, airing the serious concerns of patients about his fitness to be practising as a consultant gynaecologist.

Now it is crystal clear why senior health figures in North Yorkshire didn't like what we were doing - because they desperately wanted to avoid the truth coming out.

Yesterday's long-awaited report of the independent inquiry into the scandal laid bare a catalogue of errors, misjudgements and attempts to brush the whole sorry saga under the carpet.

The truth defies belief and will send a shudder down the spines of all of us who put our faith in the National Health Service.

It was bad enough that Neale got a job as a consultant gynaecologist at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton despite having been struck off in Canada.

It was even worse that mounting evidence of his incompetence was ignored, and that he was given a reference by the Friarage board to unload the problem onto another NHS trust.

But while yesterday's report is useful in exposing those at fault, and the depth of their negligence, will it lead to any real action?

It certainly should because changes have to be made in the way the credentials of medical practitioners are checked, and how patients' concerns are investigated.

In the meantime, those who contributed to the Richard Neale scandal should be hanging their heads in shame.

That's not muck-raking or being sensationalist. It is the truth.