A NURSE who worked alongside disgraced surgeon Richard Neale has broken ranks to reveal new evidence of incompetence which led to women patients suffering at his hands.

The nurse's account was last night described as "a significant step" in the campaign to force a public inquiry over the scandal.

The development comes seven months after Mr Neale was struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council for botching operations at The Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

The nurse, who wishes to remain anonymous, has given her testimony of Mr Neale's appalling treatment of his patients to solicitor Simon John, who is acting on behalf of the consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist's victims.

She did not work with Mr Neale at the Friarage but at another hospital. She said she raised her concerns about Mr Neale with management but no action was taken.

Mr John, who is leading the fight for compensation for the women, claimed her new allegations underlined concern about why no other former colleagues of Mr Neale blew the whistle on his activities.

The GMC hearing last year was told by campaigners that there had been "a conspiracy of silence" over Mr Neale.

So far, no one else who worked alongside Mr Neale has publicly condemned his behaviour.

Ex-patients want to know why Mr Neale was allowed to continue practising in the UK despite being struck off in Canada after a patient died.

Mr John said: "This is an important development. This nurse is the first of Mr Neale's colleagues to break ranks and speak about his surgical practices."

In her statement to Mr John the nurse alleged Mr Neale:

l Failed to observe basic hygiene in the theatre, including failing to scrub his hands properly and failing to mask his nose, even when he had a heavy cold;

lPerforated internal organs including the bladder, the urethra and in one dramatic life-threatening case a uterine artery - and failed to enter any problems on the patient's medical notes;

l Manually tore internal muscle rather than using a scalpel;

l Carried out hysterectomies too quickly;

l Tied an excessive number of knots in internal stitching which can lead to medical problems;

l Failed to change his surgical gloves after sticking himself with a needle.

The nurse was also concerned that women patients of Mr Neale appeared to recover more slowly than other patients.

Mr John is representing more than 50 of Mr Neale's former patients who are claiming compensation.

Sheila Wright-Hogeland, the founder of the patient support group which campaigned to have the surgeon struck off, said the nurse's statement vindicated the complaints of many women who were left internally damaged and infected.

It also reinforced the group's claim for a public inquiry.

"There is tremendous frustration and increasing anger about the lack of progress," said Mrs Wright-Hogeland.

"We have had all these other medical scandals where we have had inquiries - the Rodney Ledward case, the Bristol Babies case, Harold Shipman and now the organ retention scandal - yet Health Secretary Alan Milburn has not even made any comment about the Neale case, which involves a number of his constituents."

A spokesman for Mr Neale said he was not prepared to comment on "uncorroborated claims from an unidentified person".

The GMC found him guilty of 34 out of 35 allegations made against him by patients. The one unproven allegation was that he behaved in an unprofessional manner towards a patient.

A Department of Health official said they were monitoring the situation but there were a number of legal issues which still had to be resolved.

"We are keeping it under review," the spokesman said. "We are looking at starting a full and independent review of the case as soon as possible.