Doctor suspended by General Medical Council (From Gazette & Herald)

Dr Elizabeth Bradley suspended by General Medical Council

10:05am Friday 19th October 2012 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

THE General Medical Council has suspended a North Yorkshire GP who was strongly criticised over her treatment of a cancer patient.

Dr Elizabeth Bradley, of Terrington Surgery, near Malton, was suspended by an “interim orders panel” last Friday – a decision which means she cannot practise as a doctor in the UK for the time being.

News of her suspension comes days after it was revealed Dr Bradley was retiring from general practice as a NHS North Yorkshire and York panel was preparing to decide on her future.

The panel had been due to consider complaints against her next month, with its powers including suspension or removal from the local performers’ list, which would have prevented her from practising as a GP.

It was reported in January how Dr Bradley had wrongly diagnosed Christine Hutchinson, now 66, of Westow, near Malton, as suffering from fibromyalgia. Mrs Hutchinson’s spine was later found to have collapsed and she was diagnosed as suffering from the cancer myeloma.

The Health Service Ombudsman said then that the doctor’s standard of care fell so far short of the applicable standard as to amount to “service failure.’ He subsequently revealed he had concerns about other patients’ safety because the GP had failed to produce an adequate action plan to address the serious failings.

Following the Ombudsman’s further criticisms, the GMC decided in August to reopen an investigation into Dr Bradley’s fitness to practise, having originally “closed” a complaint by Mrs Hutchinson.

The surgery did not want to comment yesterday but reiterated statements issued previously stating that it had recognised the criticisms made by the Ombudsman and had been in active discussions with NHS North Yorkshire and York to address any deficiencies identified and made good progress in dealing with them, and did not believe there were issues that might affect other patients’ safety.

The practice said last week it was to merge with Helmsley Surgery to ensure patients in Terrington benefited by the continuation of the village surgery.