Paula Vasco-Knight was chief executive at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and had previously enjoyed the prestige of being appointed NHS England’s national lead for equality – and, two years later, was awarded a CBE for her work on equality and diversity.
But later that year, things seemed to unravel, after an employment tribunal awarded whistleblower Clare Sardari, a former nurse at Torbay Hospital, £230,000 after she was bullied and intimidated for complaining about Vasco-Knight’s ‘nepotism and favouritism’.
The NHS boss had appointed her daughter’s boyfriend as the hospital’s equality and diversity manager without a fair selection process.
The allegations led
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