GMC blunder 'let botched ops go on'
26/07/2003
Barry Nelson

Victims of disgraced gynaecologist Richard Neale say they may sue the General Medical Council over a mix-up which allowed the surgeon to continue injuring patients.

The blunder meant that Mr Neale was able to work at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, for a decade - even though the GMC had been alerted by Canada, where he had been struck off by two provinces.

The news came on the day that parents protested outside the medical watchdog's headquarters, claiming their complaints against doctors have been ignored.

Demonstrators holding banners which read "Child Protectors Child Abusers" stood in the pouring rain near the GMC's London headquarters.

The demonstration increased pressure on the body, which has been criticised for failing to crack down on dangerous and incompetent doctors.

In Mr Neale's case, the Canadian authorities alerted London about him in the mid-1980s - but the GMC did not realise he was already on the UK medical register and working at the Northallerton hospital.

His name was consequently put on a list of overseas doctors who might apply to join the UK register.

If such an application had been made, an investigation of Mr Neale's Canadian past is likely to have taken place.

But instead, the error allowed him to resume his chequered career unhindered - which ended in a string of botched operations and complaints from more than 250 women.

It was not until a public campaign was launched by his victims in 1998 that the GMC began to take the matter seriously - leading to Mr Neale being struck off in 2000 after 34 sample allegations of serious professional misconduct were proven.

Graham Maloney, advisor to the Action and Support Group for Medical Victims of Richard Neale, said: "It is an absolutely appalling state of affairs that the GMC didn't check if he was already on the register. If they had acted properly, hundreds of women wouldn't have ended up as victims of this man."

He said the fact that this only became public when a solicitor decided to tell the Press vindicated the group's original call for the inquiry to held in public.

Mr Maloney, who lives near Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, said he would now seek legal advice on whether a claim for damages could be mounted against the GMC.

Details of the admission by the GMC were revealed by Tim Annett, of solicitors Alexander Harris, which has been representing patients at the behind-closed-doors Neale inquiry in York.

Mr Annett said other bodies assumed that the GMC had looked at the Neale case and decided to take no action.

"There has been a loss of confidence in the GMC after cases like the Shipman scandal.

"There is a body of opinion which believes self-regulation of the medical profession cannot work and it should be replaced by an independent body," he added.

Malcolm Alexander, director of the Association of Community Health Councils of England and Wales, said the revelation about the way the GMC had handled the Neale was case was shocking.

The future of the medical body was by no means certain despite recent reforms, he said. "Unless the GMC can prove themselves in five years, then their future is up for grabs," he added.

Liz Thomas, policies officer for the Association for the Victims of Medical Accidents (AVMA) said that unless the medical authorities acted more decisively to stop dangerous doctors, public confidence would be further damaged.

A spokeswoman for the GMC said they could not comment on the Neale inquiry as it had signed a confidentiality agreement.

The GMC has stressed it is in the middle of major reforms designed to restore public confidence.