MPs who are pressing the Government to take action over a series of medical scandals - including the Richard Neale affair - have been told they will have to wait a little longer.

Richmond MP William Hague and Stockton North MP Frank Cook have both called on the Government to implement the recommendations made in the wake of the scandals.

Despite inquiries costing millions of pounds, the Government has still not acted on a raft of recommendations designed to make it more difficult for under-performing doctors to abuse or harm patients.

Earlier this month, Health Minister Jane Kennedy said the Government intended to publish its much-delayed response to the Shipman, Ayling, Kerr-Haslam and Neale inquiries in the spring.

What is holding up the process is a separate review of medical regulat-ion being carried out by Chief Medic-al Officer, Professor Liam Donaldson.

This week, the Government announced closer co-ordination between the Department of Health, police and Health and Safety Executive to ensure investigations into serious patient safety incidents are conducted in a well-coordinated manner.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the Department of Health said the response to all four inquiries would be announced "as soon as possible".

Mr Hague and Mr Cook both have constituents who were victims of the former North Yorkshire gynaecologist Richard Neale, who was struck off the medical register in 2000 after being found guilty of more than 30 cases of serious professional misconduct. Most of his victims were patients at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, from 1985 to 1990.

Commenting on the delay, Mr Hague said: "I was sorry to hear that the programme of action to take forward the recommendations of the Neale inquiry has still not been finalised by the Department of Health. It is very important that this work is completed as quickly as possible."

Mr Cook is asking Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, "as a matter of some urgency" for her comments on implementing the recommendations from the Neale inquiry.

"The public have a right to know that their tax money spent on these inquiries will have identifiable outcomes," the MP added.

Graham Maloney, advisor to the Neale victims action group, said: "Our hospitals would be a lot safer right now if all the 300 or so recommendations, made after these inquiries, were put into place."