The sacked chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust has said she was dismissed because the board lost their nerve over a change programme, and suggested her removal served individuals at the charity more than beneficiaries.

Rosemarie Gillespie had been chief executive of the charity for just 15 months before being asked to leave with immediate effect by the board last Monday.

In a statement issued yesterday, Gillespie said she had been given a "wholesale endorsement" just three months before by the chair, Robert Glick.

She said: "As recently as April he wrote to me to say: 'Let me take a moment to recognise your one-year anniversary, and to underscore what a tremendous pleasure it has been, and I know will continue to be, to work with you.

"'I think you and I are on our way to developing an outstanding partnership, and I couldn’t be more excited about working with you at the helm as we take the leap into the next stage of this great charity’s work.'

"This contrasts bizarrely with the events of last week."

Gillespie told Civil Society News that the board had "lost its nerve" when it realised that the change programme she had been brought in to lead would affect senior individuals, not just other staff.

"As with all change it's fine so long as people don't have to do anything themselves," she said. "As soon as people realise that it's not just someone over there, they behave differently."

In her statement she said: "It is clear that the Board do not have the stomach to see through the programme of change that I was brought in to deliver.

"I am unclear how or in what ways people living with HIV and who use THT’s services will benefit from further disruption and a change in leadership after such a short time.

"I think people should look more closely at the board’s leadership and decision making, their handling of this issue and at the detrimental impact this will have on the charity and on people who use THT’s services."

The Terrence Higgins Trust said that it declined to comment at this time.