Struck-off surgeon gets job with NHS
01/08/2002

DISGRACED surgeon Richard Neale was appointed by a top NHS hospital only a year after he was struck off for botching operations, it was revealed last night.

The former surgeon - who injured more than 200 women patients during ten years at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton - spent nine months advising other doctors how to avoid clinical errors and provide high quality care to patients.

His victims last night described his appointment by South Manchester University Hospital NHS Trust as "ludicrous" and reacted with anger to the gynaecologist's fresh protestations of innocence.

Last night, the Department of Health confirmed that Mr Neale was no longer working for the trust, which he left in April.

A spokesman for the department said: "We are appalled to hear that Richard Neale was re-employed in the NHS. The Chief Medical Officer (Liam Donaldson) will be looking into the wider implications of the failures and errors of judgement that led to him being appointed."

Sheila Wright-Hogeland, a founder of the patient group which campaigned successfully to have Mr Neale struck off the medical register, said: "I think this is absolutely deplorable. All they are doing is putting their patients at risk. If he is in charge of clinical governance, then the standard of surgery going on at that hospital has to be seriously compromised."

Mrs Wright-Hogeland, who lives near Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, said there was an urgent need for legislation to prevent struck-off doctors obtaining employment in clinically sensitive areas.

"To have this man telling other doctors how they should be practising is unbelievable. What is the logic in that? Why would anyone employ this man anywhere near a hospital?"

Campaigners are currently waiting for a date for an independent inquiry into the Neale affair, ordered by the NHS.

Graham Maloney, an advisor to the patient group, said: "We will be raising these issues at the forthcoming Neale inquiry and with the Health and Safety Executive."

Mr Neale, from Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, was struck off by the General Medical Council two years ago after 35 out of 36 allegations of serious counts of professional misconduct were found proven.

At the time, victims asked how the surgeon could have been employed in the NHS after being struck off after the death of two patients in Canada.

A police investigation into his activities in Canada is continuing.

In a statement, the chairman of South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust, Professor David Harnden, said: "Mr Richard Neale was employed by the trust on a temporary contract in August 2001. He held a junior administrative post in the clinical audit department for a period of nine months. He had no clinical responsibilities and no contact with patients.

"Mr Neale's appointment with the trust was terminated in April.

"An investigation has been carried out into this matter and appropriate disciplinary action has been taken."

It was discovered that Mr Neale had been working for the NHS again after a copy of a question-and-answer article written by Mr Neale for the European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology was passed to The Northern Echo.

In the article, Mr Neale said: "I believe I would be uniquely equipped to serve the needs of patients while remaining fair to clinicians."

He said he hoped that the hospital "that has had the compassion and the courage to employ me" would continue to help him achieve "reconciliation and restitution".

Commenting on his treatment by the GMC, Mr Neale writes: "I accept that in a tiny fraction of my patients my level of competence was less than I would have wished. I do not accept that I was treated fairly or that justice was done."

He alleged that the committee "ignored the opinions of my three distinguished expert witnesses".

Mr Neale also indicated he intended to apply to the GMC for registration in three years time.

A spokeswoman for the GMC said: "We are confident that we followed our procedures correctly. Any doctor who feels they have been unjustly treated has the right to appeal.

"Richard Neale chose not to exercise that right. No doctor can apply to be restored to the register until at least five years after being erased. We must be satisfied that they are fit to practise before we restore them."