Disgraced doctor who lied to bosses still sanctioned

A disgraced doctor who was found guilty of misconduct three years ago after lying to his superiors will face another year of licence conditions, a tribunal has ruled.
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation TrustWrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Javaid Khan, who is currently working within Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, was first reviewed by the General Medical Council’s fitness to practise panel in 2015 after he lied about a “serious untoward incident”.

Other news: NHS bosses slammed over medical facilities at Wigan prisonAn inquiry held in February 2015, heard how Dr Khan had described a conversation with another doctor regarding the incorrect insertion of a nasogastric tube in which he claimed he was told by “Dr B”, a senior doctor, that the tube was placed correctly. It was later found that this conversation had been fabricated by Dr Khan.

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Notes from the most recent tribunal hearing, published this month, say: “The 2015 panel found that Dr Khan’s conduct in this regard was misleading and dishonest.

“It was in no doubt that Dr Khan’s dishonesty was serious and amounted to misconduct.

“It considered that his failure to admit his dishonesty was evidence of his lack of insight, it was of the view that his dishonesty had not been remediated and there was a risk of his dishonesty being repeated.”

After a year, Dr Khan’s “fitness to practise” was reviewed and was again found to be “impaired” by reason of misconduct.

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The panel found that although the dishonest doctor had “expressed remorse” for his actions, they did not believe that enough progress had been made to warrant removal of the sanctions.

The report added: “The 2016 tribunal could not be assured that Dr Khan had shown sufficient remediation and insight to be able to return to unrestricted practice.”

However, despite this decision, the hearing ruled that further suspension would be unnecessary and reinstated Dr Khan’s registration with a 24-month period of certain conditions.

After his suspension, Dr Khan took up a placement on a locum training programme with WWL, but failed to specifically inform them of six of his conditions.

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Panel members at the most recent hearing accepted that this was a “misunderstanding” and that Dr Khan had not attempted to mislead anyone.

An assistant registrar at the trust told the GMC: “Despite the breach, all of the approvals were put in place prior to the doctor starting work therefore there was no patient safety risk.”

Having taken evidence from both previous tribunals into account, the fitness to practise panel this month decided that Dr Khan’s ability to practise unsupervised still remains “impaired” and imposed a further year of sanctions.

Senior medical practitioners at the trust provided documents with “positive” statements about Dr Khan’s performance whilst at WWL, but the panel remained concerned about the doctor’s insight into his dishonesty.

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Members wrote: “The tribunal was of the view that there is insufficient evidence to show that Dr Khan’s insight had fully developed since his last review hearing.

“In particular, the tribunal considered that there was a lack of clarity in the reasons Dr Khan gave for his dishonest behaviour in 2012.

“At various points in his evidence, he attributed the behaviour to his lack of seniority, his lack of training, his tiredness and, at several points, a mistake.

“When pressed, he accepted his dishonesty but later reverted back to his original position.

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“Taken together, his evidence and his written reflective pieces did not satisfy the tribunal that, if faced with a similar situation in the future, Dr Khan would not approach the matter with the integrity and honesty that the public is required to expect of him.”

Dr Khan will remain with WWL until he begins a GP training position in the West Midlands in August.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “Dr Khan is on placement within the trust via Health Education North West (HENW) and is being fully supported whilst under restrictions.

“The trust is aware of this matter and continues to engage with Dr Khan and HENW whilst he remains placed with us.”

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