VICTIMS of disgraced surgeon Richard Neale are stepping up their calls for a public inquiry.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn has confirmed the intention to make a review of the scandal, which saw scores of women left in chronic pain following botched operations at Northallerton's Friarage Hospital.

However, Mr Milburn has refused to bow for calls for a full-scale inquiry and so far no details of how the review will be conducted have been released.

Sheila Wright-Hogeland, who helped form an action group for Neale's victims, said she was dismayed by the lack of Government action.

She said: "There have been inquiries over other issues, but there are 250 North-East women seriously injured."

She said news of the review had been unveiled in a letter from a junior minister but there had still been no official announcement from the Government.

"They also have not been specific about what a review means, whether they are going to make its findings public and when is it going to start," she said.

Neale was struck off by the General Medical Council last year, but the Government claims an on-going police investigation means it has not been able to start the review.

Graham Maloney, of the Action for the Proper Regulation of Private Hospitals group and an advisor to the Neale victims, said: "We have been promised a review, but there has still been no official announcement.

"If there is any case that deserves a major inquiry it is this one, and as soon as an inquiry is announced it will be a starting point for the victims who can then begin to get on with their lives." he said.