A HEALTH campaigner has called for under-fire hospital boss Christine Green to resign.

Furious Liz Degnen, whose mother Betty Dunn died at the hospital, has launched a Facebook campaign to call for the chief executive and her directors to quit.

Liz, from Hadfield, said: "I’m pleased with the number who have joined and I’ve had a lot of private emails as well from people saying ‘keep up the good work’ and telling me their own personal stories.

"Surely Christine Green must feel the public anger directed towards her and the rest of the directors? If she has got any decency she will resign.

"I intend to take this all the way to Downing Street. I’m not going to let it drop."

In the meantime, the Advertiser has backed calls for an independent investigation into the hospital.

Health secretary Andy Burnham has also revealed his concerns. His spokesman said: "Patient safety is our top priority and he has been in contact with the regulator to ask for urgent assurances."

High Peak MP Tom Levitt and his Tameside colleagues are now calling for the hospital’s top bosses – including Mrs Green – to resign after years of problems.

But she has vowed she will not quit despite pressure from a community group and the Facebook campaign.

The Advertiser and its sister paper the Manchester Evening News have joined the Tameside Hospital Action Group in calling for an independent investigation after the hospital scored just 4.8 out of 100 for patient safety in a recent report.

The action group has been inundated with complaints about failings in basic care on wards

But Mrs Green, who has been chief executive of the hospital for 10 years, said: "I’m not a defeatist. I would have no qualms in recommending this hospital to my friends and family, I have used it myself."

Asked if she had considered quitting her £140,000-a-year job, she said: "It is not something that has entered my head.

"I want to carry on doing the right things for this hospital.

"This latest publicity has shown up an agenda we need to address on some patient care issues."

She said she was concerned by reports that some elderly people were afraid of getting ill in case they were taken to Tameside as well as those issues raised on the Facebook social networking website.

She added: "I do not want to diminish those concerns.

"People have lost their loved ones, sometimes prematurely and they are obviously distressed by that. But we have made a lot of improvements. The majority of patients who come here have a perfectly satisfactory experience. This is a very effective hospital, with a good, strong team of staff."