A FORMER Bury Hospice boss has defended her record as chief executive.

Jacqui Comber, who claims that she was unfairly sacked by the hospice last year, told an employment tribunal in Manchester today that she had worked to build relations with the Bury community.

The tribunal had earlier heard that her dismissal was “an inevitability, irrespective of her culpability” in order to repair the hospice’s damaged reputation.

Mrs Comber said: “One of my first roles when I came in was to make relations with a very important stakeholder, which was the then-named Bury Primary Care Trust.”

She added: “I developed relationships with Pennine Acute, Bury GP Federation. I also build up a relationship with the editor of the Bury Times and local businesses.”

Mrs Comber denied that the management of the hospice was dysfunctional and said that “inaccurate” stories had been leaked to the press.

On Wednesday, the second day of the tribunal hearing, proceedings were halted for a time after Mrs Comber broke down in tears.

Suzanne Carr, who conducted an investigation into the hospice last year and is now its acting general manager, told the tribunal that there had been an allegation of an “improper relationship” between Mrs Comber and someone with connections to the hospice.

Mike Ganley, a former trustee of the hospice, had reported a rumour of improper behaviour to Ms Carr during her review, which was also later referenced by other people interviewed in the investigation.

She said there were also allegations that Ms Comber’s management style was autocratic and divisive, and that she had bullied staff.

Ms Carr said that she had wanted to interview Ms Comber as part of the investigation, but was advised not to by the hospice’s management.

Earlier, hospice trustee Peter Holliday had revealed that decision to sack Ms Comber was taken without a disciplinary process because the hospice was “at risk” and that she would still have had to go even if an investigation had found there was no misconduct on her part.

He stated: “In my experience a hospice does not get into the state that Bury Hospice was without the chief executive being culpable.”

The tribunal heard that trustees were concerned that the hospice could be forced to pay back a grant of more than £500,000 that was awarded for the conversion of the old hospice site in Radcliffe into the Grace’s Place children’s hospice, as the conditions of the grant had not been met.

Mrs Comber said that she had been given “a 100 per cent assurance” that Bury Hospice would not be liable for the repayment of the grant.