A top director has left Medway Maritime Hospital in the wake of a damning report.

Operations director and deputy chief executive Patrick Johnson is believed to have left his £130,000-a-year post last week.

The hospital is one of 11 in special measures after a report by NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh.

Mr Johnson was one of only two remaining directors who had been in post for more than 18 months. The other is chief executive Mark Devlin.

A hospital spokesman said Mr Johnson had not been sacked, but did not answer further questions about the circumstances around his departure.

His name and photo were on the hospital’s website last Wednesday but have now been replaced with an empty grey box.

His deputy, Jane Sutherland, has been named interim operations director until March 2014.

Chartered accountant Mr Johnson worked at the hospital for just over three years after transferring from the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Before that he had worked in senior roles for private companies, including the accountants PwC and logistics firm DHL.

Only weeks ago the hospital began building a temporary A&E department after the Keogh report, set up to probe high death rates, branded the current unit completely inadequate.

Waiting times, which have since improved, were the worst in England several times over the summer.

The hospital is also having to recruit more staff after the Keogh report said the level of understaffing could be dangerous.

A spokesman for the hospital said: “Patrick Johnson left the trust at the end of September. Patrick had been director of operations and deputy CEO for just over three years and decided it is the right time to explore new challenges.”