A LEADING Scots doctor has appeared before a professional misconduct hearing to face claims he slapped and pushed a patient in an accident and emergency department.
Philip Anderson, a consultant at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, is alleged to have aggressively told the person in his care: “This is a fight you are not going to win.”
The case against him alleges that while working at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow two years ago, Dr Anderson struck a patient on the face with the back of his hand and pushed him down on the bed “with excessive force”.
It is further alleged that, during the January 2014 incident, Dr Anderson, of Giffnock, East Renfrewshire, spoke to the man in an “aggressive” manner.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde suspended the medic on full pay, which can amount to more than £100,000 per year for an experienced consultant.
A spokeswoman for the health board said that Dr Anderson “was the subject of a disciplinary process” but has now been reinstated and back working at the Royal Infirmary.
However, further proceedings against him got under way in Manchester yesterday, where a General Medical Council (GMC) misconduct tribunal will hear evidence until April 27.
The allegation against him states: “The tribunal will inquire into the allegation that in January 2014, while employed as a consultant in emergency medicine, Dr Anderson deliberately struck a patient’s cheek, pushed the patient on to the bed with excessive force and spoke to the patient in an aggressive manner.
“The above reflects the allegation as it stands at the start of the hearing. The allegation may be amended as the hearing proceeds and when findings of fact are made by the tribunal.”
It is understood that following the alleged incident, Dr Anderson began work in the employ of a separate health board, Ayrshire and Arran.
Insiders suggested he took up a post at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock but the Ayrshire and Arran health board refused to confirm this, or even say whether Dr Anderson was ever employed by them.
Alison Graham, the medical director of NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said: “It would be inappropriate for NHS Ayrshire and Arran to comment on Dr Anderson as he was not working in our health board when the alleged incident took place.”
A spokesman for the Crown Office said there was no record of any pending criminal proceedings against the medic.
The GMC opened their case yesterday and provided tribunal members with documents to read. It is expected to continue today.
In October last year it emerged a doctor accused of sexually assaulting a patient has been struck off the medical register after lying about the incident in his application to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Jose Jacob was sacked from his previous role when the allegation came to light in April 2014, and became the subject of a police and GMC investigation.
Later that year, with the probe still under way, Mr Jacob applied for a post with the health board as a locum consultant cardiologist.
When asked in his application if he was subject of any ongoing police investigation or fitness to practise proceedings, he circled “no” in his application.
His lies came to light when personnel staff carried out checks on his application.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service said his conduct was “particularly serious, in it related to providing untruthful and misleading declaration”. to a potential employer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article