CAMPAIGNERS representing the victims of disgraced surgeon Richard Neale have welcomed a new Government agency to investigate dangerous doctors.

The National Clinical Assessment Authority (NCAA), to be set up in the wake of cases like Neale and that of mass killer Dr Harold Shipman, aims to look rapidly into complaints from patients and colleagues about a doctor's performance.

Graham Maloney, spokes-man for the Action and Support Group for Medical Victims of Richard Neale, said the new agency was "desperately needed".

Neale, a North Yorkshire gynaecologist, was struck off last year after botching a string of operations.

Mr Maloney said: "This is long overdue and will be a major step forward.

"We have always argued that, when you are dealing with people's lives, doctors have to be accountable and the agencies that police them improved.

"By the time the authorities had found about Richard Neale, there were hundreds of people already injured and that is not good enough."

News of the agency comes as another gynaecologist from the region, Dr Janusz Aleksander Wszeborowski, who lives in Gateshead, is brought before the General Medical Council (GMC) today over claims of inappropriate and insensitive treatment.

The NCAA will not replace the GMC, the doctors' self-regulatory body. Instead, it will refer complaints which appear to be well-founded on to the GMC, hospital trusts and health authorities, and ensure prompt action is taken.

Health Minister John Hutton conceded yesterday that the NCAA could not guarantee to weed out doctors like Harold Shipman. But Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "It is going to allow us to take action very quickly where either a hospital or a GP practice knows something is wrong."

Dr John Chisholm, chairman of the BMA's GPs committee, said: "The new clinical assessment authority is one of a number of measures intended to improve and monitor the quality of care that every patient gets.

"It would not be primarily intended to detect the criminality of any future Harold Shipmans.

"There are other measures that the Government ought to be putting in place to deal with this, including monitoring of death certification and the use of controlled drugs."