"In hindsight, he should not have been appointed" at Broadmoor Hospital The Department of Health has been drawn into scandal over its decision to appoint Jimmy Savile to lead a "taskforce" at Broadmoor, one of the hospitals where the late celebrity allegedly abused patients. The department is to carry out an investigation into how he was given the position, while Conservative Cabinet minister Ken Clarke was health secretary in 1988. The department could be sued by victims, as it was running the psychiatric hospital at the time, according to reports. Mr Clarke, at present a minister without portfolio, has said that he did not remember ever meeting Savile or his appointment. A spokeswoman for Mr Clarke said that as he became health secretary only in July 1988, Savile's appointment to the role at Broadmoor may have been instigated by someone else. In a statement, the department said: "Although the framework for child protection and safeguarding for Broadmoor and other special hospital patients changed radically in 1999, we of course want to establish the circumstances. In hindsight, he should very obviously not have been appointed. Had anyone involved in the appointment been aware of allegations of abuse against Savile, we would not have expected him to have been appointed. An ITV documentary on Savile also included allegations that he targeted young hospital patients at Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire and Leeds General Infirmary. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling told the programme that everyone had been shocked by stories involving NHS hospitals and homes for children, adding that "the BBC in particular has to learn lessons from this." Of course it's right and proper that we identify how on earth this was able to happen, why senior people did not act earlier, whether there are lessons to learn now. I think particularly whether there are people who were also involved at the time - Jimmy Savile is no longer with us - but who were involved and are still with us.