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Heart doctor to sue trust over 'shameful' sacking
Benedict Moore-Bridger8 Oct 2008
A leading heart doctor awarded more than £100,000 after his "shameful" sacking was today planning further legal action against his former employers.
An employment tribunal said Kingston Hospital Trust had subjected Dr Robin Roberts, 51, to "grossly unjust treatment".
The cardiologist was accused of fraud and sacked from Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, in 2006. The trust rejected his appeal the following January and the General Medical Council imposed restrictions on his ability to practise.
As a result, Dr Roberts, who is married to an NHS gynaecologist and has eight children aged four to 21, faced bankruptcy. He and wife Lesley were forced to move out of the family home in Wimbledon.
But after taking his case to an employment tribunal, claiming wrongful and unfair dismissal, he was vindicated last October. The panel said: "We find nothing to support a finding of fraud."
Rather than give him his job back, the trust opted to pay compensation with a tribunal in Croydon last week accepting an order for £110,000 in basic costs, compensation and damages.
The trust wrongly believed Dr Roberts had misused NHS resources by admitting an elderly private patient being treated at his clinic in Wimbledon, to an NHS bed.
He believes a group of senior managers appeared to want to ruin him - the tribunal ruling said he "may have been the victim of something more reprehensible than crass incompetence". Dr Roberts said: "Any subsequent legal action would have to be on different points of law, and we are looking at this."
Dr Colin Todd, Medical Director at Kingston Hospital said: “Dr Roberts was dismissed by the Trust because he misused NHS resources by admitting a private patient, who he was treating at his private clinic in Wimbledon, to an NHS bed in Kingston Hospital for over 2 weeks without permission.
“The Trust believes that by treating this patient privately whilst they were booked into an NHS bed at Kingston Hospital, Dr Roberts misused NHS resources, which are for use by NHS patients, and failed, in his duty as a Trust employee.
“The Trust followed the correct disciplinary procedure which resulted in the panel's unanimous decision that Dr Roberts should be dismissed.”
Reader views (2)
"Dr Roberts was dismissed by the Trust because he misused NHS resources"
Apparently not, Dr. Todd, or will you only admit this when you've lost even more money from the NHS by having to pay further damages. And you've lost and excellent specialist.
- Sarahn, London, UK, 08/10/2008 14:07
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The practice of fast tracking private patients through the NHS is nothing new. It's been going on for years. Oldest trick in the book, is to go for a private consultation and then get NHS GP to do a referral. Before the 18 week RTT came in, it was a standard practice.
- Triffidqueen, Desk in London, 08/10/2008 11:52
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