EMBATTLED hospital chiefs met in secret last night to consider the fate of a consultant accused of having an improper relationship with a patient.

Gynaecologist Neil Hebblethwaite could face disciplinary action after he was criticised in an internal report following a complaint from a former patient at the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

The board of Northallerton Health Services NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, considered the report at a meeting behind closed doors last night.

Chief executive Tony Bruce declined to discuss the report yesterday, but said the trust was expecting to issue a statement today.

Mr Hebblethwaite, a 44-year-old married father-of-four, from Brompton, near Northallerton, has been on extended leave with full pay since the allegations first surfaced in April

The former patient, who agreed to sign a gagging order and does not wish to be named, said she could not comment on the contents of the report.

The trust has been criticised for its handling of the complaint, after it convened an internal investigation instead of the statutory NHS complaints procedure.

The inquiry comes after Mr Hebblethwaite's predecessor at the Friarage, Richard Neale, was struck off the medical register.