THE new chairman of a scandal-hit Hampshire health trust looking after the healthcare of millions people in the South has set out his vision for a major overhaul of the controversial organisation.

Tim Smart was under the spotlight when he led his inaugural public meeting at the helm of the troubled Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

His first meeting at the Calmore-based mental health trust came amid a full-blown crisis following a bitter split in the group that says how it is run – leading to grieving families condemning it as “a shambles”.

Now grieving relatives have freshly hit out, branding Mr Smart's proposed raft of improvements as “bureaucracy” and saying more needs to be done to turn it around.

Mr Smart appeared at the headquarters in Tatchbury Mount yesterday (Tuesday) – flanked by under-fire chief executive Katrina Percy who has faced repeated calls to resign following a series of scandals which hit the trust.

He has already faced controversy after rebel governors broke ranks from the leadership last week by resurrecting a crunch meeting cancelled by him to demand improvements.

But yesterday, speaking in a loud and commanding voice, Mr Smart told the meeting he is launching a “board capability review” to scrutinise senior managers.

It will be undertaken with the support of independent advisors by the end of next month with families giving their views through the Council of Governors, he said.

He added: “The review will be making decisions about individuals on this board.”

But he refused to directly answer a question from Maureen Rickman, from Barton-on-Sea, whose sister Joanna Deering took her own life after being discharged from a trust hospital, when she asked what is being done to change trust culture and poor practice locally.

Instead Ms Percy told her it was being covered in “appraisals”.

Afterwards Mrs Rickman, 55, said: “I haven’t heard any real reassurances with regard to what they are doing. The review It is bureaucracy.”

But Richard West from Park Gate,whose son died while in the care of the trust said: “I think he will listen. It is early days and he’s got a lot to listen to. We will wait and see.”

As previously reported Mr Smart was appointed by health watchdog NHS Improvement following the resignation of former chairman Mike Petter on the eve of a damning health regulator report.

Southern Health has been condemned by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after failing to protect patients and investigate the deaths of hundreds of people in its care following a scathing independent report.

The organisation provides services for 45,000 people in Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and employs 9,000 staff at around 200 sites.

A spokeswoman for the trust said Mr Smart has set out a “clear plan” ensuring the trust can concentrating on delivering “high quality” and safe patient care and concentrate resources on the front line.