A doctor who took a second job as a housebuilder and faced repeated professional restrictions is to have his surgery closed down, leaving 1700 patients without a permanent GP.
NHS Tayside has terminated its contract with Ardler Surgery in Dundee a week after Dr Dennis Miller was told by the General Medical Council (GMC) that he was banned from signing any repeat prescriptions.
That was the latest in a long line of actions taken by the medical watchdog against Dr Miller over the past 11 years due to concerns over his professional standards.
The trust said it took the “very unfortunate but unavoidable decision” to shut the surgery because Dr Miller, who was the sole GP at the practice, had not delivered the level of service required under the contract.
It leaves his 1700 patients without a permanent GP from next Monday, though NHS Tayside said plans were being put in place to ensure those affected can access a temporary surgery for up to eight weeks.
Local MSPs last night described the closure as a “significant blow” to the community and urged immediate action to ensure disruption to patients is kept to a minimum.
Users of the local surgery will now be faced with a three-mile trip to see a GP until registering with a new practice.
Dr Miller, a graduate of the University of Dundee, has come up against a series of repeated investigations since 2001, including a warning issued in 2009 over the prescription of methadone.
In 2003, he was sanctioned over concerns about his prescribing methods, clinical practice, record keeping, relations with colleagues and arrangements at the practice. All allegations were admitted and found proven.
He came under scrutiny again in 2005, with a mentor put in place to supervise prescribing and record keeping. Those restrictions were lifted five months later, and Dr Miller, who said that his second career as a housebuilder did not affect his patients, was working again without sanction.
However, Dr Miller was formally warned in 2009 by the GMC of behaviour that did “not meet with the standards required of a doctor” after failing to record a methadone prescription correctly.
Conditions, including an order not to prescribe certain drugs, were imposed again in October 2010 and renewed in June, before the GMC last month added another restriction, with the GP ordered not to sign any repeat prescriptions.
Labour MSP Jenny Marra has written to Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon over the closure. She said: “I am extremely concerned because a single-doctor surgery closing in Ardler will have massive consequences for the community here. The NHS statement makes no provision for a temporary or permanent GP practice in Ardler.”
Dr Michelle Watts, associate medical director for primary care for NHS Tayside, said: “This is a very unfortunate but unavoidable situation. Patients will now have to register with another GP practice and this should be very straightforward. To give people time to register with another GP, we have already set up a temporary GP practice only for Ardler patients at Wallacetown Health Centre.”
Dr Miller remains a registered GP but investigations continue at the GMC. He was last night unavailable for comment.
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