The Sun 5 February 2016
TAXPAYERS could get a £11million bill after an NHS doctor sacked for whistleblowing won his battle for compensation.
Dr Raj Mattu, 54, was awarded £1.22million yesterday after being axed for flagging up high death rates and overcrowding.
And it is thought he may now go after legal costs, believed to be about £10million.
The £70,000-a-year heart surgeon was suspended on full pay over his claims about Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry, West Mids, in 2001.
He was then sacked in 2010 and made a claim for £6.5million at an employment tribunal.
The hearing in Birmingham yesterday told University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust to pay him the huge compensation payout.
Dr Mattu said last night: “The overriding feeling is relief.”
It came after the medic voiced concerns about unusually high death rate for heart bypass ops.
He blamed at least two deaths on cost-cutting measures that saw five patients put into bays set up for four.
The Trust failed to respond so Dr Mattu spoke to the BBC.
He was later suspended for bullying a colleague but the claims were later disproven.
NHS bosses spent about £6million investigating 200 allegations against the doctor and even hired private investigators to track him — but all claims were proved false.
A Trust spokesman said while his award was big, “it is a significant reduction from the original claim”.
SHARMILA CHOWDHURY 