A HEALTH boss who led efforts to downgrade Chase Farm Hospital has left his post for a new job in Cambridgeshire.

Nigel Beverley has departed as Enfield borough director for the North Central London NHS Sector following a year-and-a-half in the job.

He joined in November 2009 as chief executive of the now defunct NHS Enfield, and has overseen a tumultuous period of cutbacks, re-organisations, and eventually a merger of five north London health trust.

He has moved on to be the chief executive of Hinchingbrooke Hospital, which is the first to be transferred into the control of a private company.

Mr Beverley was a leading voice on the Barnet, Enfield, and Haringey strategy, which proposed a radical reconfiguration of services and included the downgrading of Chase Farm Hospital.

To NHS London bosses in January, he described the plans as a “key driver” for attracting investment in Enfield healthcare, and he slammed proposals to retain services at Chase Farm as “unstable and unsustainable in terms of patient safety, clinical staffing, and modern clinical practice and are unaffordable in today's economic climate”.

Mr Beverley was also the chief executive of the Wellhouse NHS Trust in 1998 when the prospect of merging Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals was first suggested.

More recently, Mr Beverley faced off Enfield councillors over cutbacks of the opening hours of an Edmonton walk-in service, but was forced to back-track and launch a full consultation in the face of public concern.

His departure comes as the fate of Chase Farm Hospital services remains in the balance, with the judgement of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel set to be made on Friday, July 8.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has asked for the expert opinion before deciding whether to back the reconfiguration or explore other options.