Disgraced health managers criticised in the Oxford Heart Centre investigation will sit on a new watchdog committee to monitor its progress.

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals nursing director Tricia Hart and acting medical director Dr James Morris are expected to join the specially-created Implementation Board, which will enforce 34 recommendations made in the External Cardiac Review.

Both executives together with personnel director Mike Fleming were heavily criticised within the report, which blamed managerial cock-ups for the poor state of the John Radcliffe-based centre. Although members of Oxfordshire Community Health Council and the Royal College of Nursing are now both deliberating whether they should lobby for the pair to resign, they are still holding their senior positions and earn about 120,000 of taxpayers' money between them.

Trust chief executive David Highton confirmed that Ms Hart and Dr Morris would be given places on the new board. He said: "I think if we look at our action plan, a lot of the report recommendations relate to their areas of work, so we can't do the action plan without them."

He will also invite members of the RCN and the CHC to chose representatives to take part in the new board.

Earlier this week, Mr Highton said he would not consider asking any of the shamed board members to leave their jobs because they played important roles within his management team. The NHS Executive report said the Oxford Heart Centre was "on its knees", nurses who had lost confidence were continuously leaving, and surgeons Ravi Pillai and Steve Westaby did not work as a team.

The trust has agreed to enforce the report recommendations, which include changing clinical practice and improving management structures within the unit.