The government will appoint a new chief executive
At the time, Mr Loughton said that he had achieved his aim of signing the final deal for a new £300m hospital in Coventry, but he had faced continued calls from local MPs and his own consultants to resign.
Added to this was a report by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) in September 2001 which gave the trust a "zero star rating" and insisted on major improvements.
But the troubles for UHCW began in June 2000 when the problem of bed blocking was highlighted.
Reignited animosity
The Walsgrave Hospital faced a shortage of beds because patients who were fit to leave hospital, but required after-care, were not being assessed quickly enough by Coventry City Council's social services department.
This reignited animosity between the council and the trust management which dated back to the initial plans for the new Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funded superhospital.
Pressure on the trust board - and Mr Loughton in particular - grew during 2001 with very public rows breaking out at the very time the CHI inspectors were scrutinising the trust.
The CHI report savaged the trust and highlighted five areas of major concern which had to be rectified within a three-month period beginning in September 2001.
On publication of the report, Liz Lynn MEP and six of the region's MPs called for Mr Loughton to resign, pointing to one of CHI's criticisms that there had been a breakdown in communication between staff and the board.
'Aggressive management'
As if to further highlight this, 81 consultants signed a petition calling for the chief executive's head, followed by a vote of no confidence in Mr Loughton which managed to secure the support of half the consultant body.
Coventry City Council debated Mr Loughton on 1 November 2001 when Socialist councillor Karen McKay expressed concern over the trust's alleged aggressive management style.
Then further trouble came in the form of an article in The Times newspaper which claimed that UHCW had one of the highest mortality rates for heart surgery.
With pressure mounting on Mr Loughton, the chairman of the trust Gary Reay dramatically resigned live on BBC radio in an act of support for the chief executive.
David Loughton finally announced his resignation saying that the final go-ahead for the new hospital offered a good cut off point to his sixteen-year reign.