THERE are some campaigns which are short-lived because their aims can be achieved relatively quickly.

The campaign to expose gynaecologist Richard Neale as a bungling surgeon has never fallen into that category. It has gone on for several years, with this newspaper giving a voice to the women patients left in agony.

Having successfully applied pressure to have Mr Neale struck off by the General Medical Council, the campaign reaches another important milestone today when the High Court will consider the argument for holding a public inquiry.

Again, the real credit must go to the victims who have steadfastly refused to surrender in their quest for the truth to be told in the public arena. The campaign group founder, Sheila Wright-Hogeland, has battled on despite the threat of a £75,000 legal bill if she loses.

In our view, she and her fellow campaigners should not lose because this "uniquely chilling" case as former Tory leader William Hague put it in the House of Commons last week warrants a full public inquiry.

We understand that time and costs prevent the Government from holding a public inquiry every time something goes wrong in the health service.

But the Neale case is an extreme example of how patients' concerns were overlooked and how the medical profession closed ranks.

Too many questions remain unanswered and they bear repeating yet again:

l How did Richard Neale get a job in this country having been struck off in Canada?

l Why did it take so long for the patients' protests to be heard?

And perhaps most shocking of all how could he be given a handsome pay-off and a glowing reference to leave Northallerton to work at another British hospital?

It might suit the Department of Health and figures close to the Richard Neale scandal for the inquiry to be held behind closed doors.

But only a public inquiry will serve the public interest in a deeply disturbing case