NEGLIGENT DOCTOR BANNED IN CANADA BUT STILL OK FOR BRITAIN'S NHS

"The official inquiry into incompetent gynaecologist Richard Neale has called for reform of the way doctors are recruited and employed by the NHS. Neale was struck off in 2000 after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct. A General Medical Council hearing concluded he botched operations on 12 women. In total more than 250 women said they had been damaged by Neale. The inquiry calls for a new body to oversee the employment of doctors

It also says that checks should be made on all doctors appointed from overseas as standard. The report also says the complaints procedure at Friarage Hospital was poor. Patients were not actively encouraged to follow up their initial complaints, and were given little or no help with how to navigate the system. "Generally speaking we have found that the climate in which Richard Neale operated did not lend itself to full and objective examination of what was going wrong with the doctor-patient relationship. His attitude to some patients and some colleagues was arrogant, dismissive and overbearing; it stifled complaints by patients and criticisms by colleagues alike."

Neale was over-confident, and over-reached himself in performing certain clinical practices, the report finds. He also deliberately allowed his employers to be misled on a number of occasions, including failing to disclose the fact that he had been struck off in Canada. However, the report says that adequate checks on his clinical ability were not carried out. "Vulnerable patients, such as many of those treated by Richard Neale, deserve better," the report says....

The official inquiry, ordered by the government, was boycotted by many of his alleged victims because it was not held in public.....

In a statement, the GMC apologised for the way it had handled the Neale case in the 1980s. "We cannot defend the GMC procedures that 15 years ago failed by allowing him to practise in this country despite his record in Canada".

More here.