NHS Tayside has been accused of ignoring serious claims of bullying which led a junior doctor to quit his post, in a letter to the Scottish Government seen by STV News.

The four-page letter to Nicola Sturgeon and health secretary Jeane Freeman, written by the health board's former whistleblowing champion Munwar Hussain, claims management also failed to take seriously other issues raised by staff.

Among them, Mr Hussain references a doctor telling him of a trainee colleague who took their own life due to severe stress in the workplace at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

He said senior figures on the board at NHS Tayside refused to allow him to raise the cases as part of his regular whistleblowing updates.

The Scottish Government said it would not have been "appropriate" for him to raise the allegations during these updates, which were given at public meetings.

Mr Hussain was appointed to the position five months ago after it was discovered NHS Tayside had used millions of pounds of charity donations to cover running costs such as new technology.

His position was designed to help staff who raise the alarm with concerns or complaints to be taken seriously.

However, he announced in recent weeks he would be quitting the role, after going on leave due to stress.

The health board announced on Thursday that Mr Hussain had been replaced as whistleblowing champion by non-executive board member Trudy McLeay.

In his letter, Mr Hussain wrote: "On June 27, 2018, I received a direct email from an ex-doctor in training who... had left the NHS due to issues of systematic bullying and negative cliques and highlighting this issue for others within the organisation.

"Further, there were claims that people were raising issues, but these were not being acted upon by managers, including allegations in the email that a previous trainee took their own life and the stress was unbearable for some."

He added: "The next day... I mentioned to the chair that I had this contact and that I would like to mention this as part of my whistleblowing update that day... without breaching anonymity.

"I was told that I could not."

He then described attempted to raise the topic at various meetings, a number of which were cancelled.

"I very much felt that this was viewed as an ongoing issue that is tolerated," Mr Hussain concluded.

Scottish Labour's health spokesman Anas Sarwar revealed details of the letter during a ministerial statement at Holyrood.

Health secretary Jeane Freeman replied: "I take all concerns that are raised with me directly or by another means very seriously indeed.

"In the specific instance that Mr Sarwar quotes... the appropriate place for the whistleblowing champion to raise those matters is indeed in the staff governance committee and not in the wider public board meeting."

She added: "The specific allegations that were reported via that whistleblowing are currently under investigation.

"This chamber should rest assured that I will continue to monitor how these matters progress."