The applicant began practising as a general medical practitioner in 1978 from premises which he owned. He was a sole practitioner and had a panel of 1,400 patients, many of whom were from the local Bangladeshi population.
On 30 March 2004, he entered into a contract with the Waltham Forest Primary Care Trust (‘the PCT’) in accordance with the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2004 (‘the Contracts Regulations’ – see further ‘Relevant domestic law and practice’, below). At that time, his practice was not computerised and he agreed to take steps to achieve computerisation.
On 4 January 2005, the applicant wrote to the PCT asking that a planned monitoring visit on 20 January 2005 be deferred because of the upheaval at the premises due to the ongoing electrical works. The PCT responded that deferment was impossible, and the visit subsequently took place.
On 21 January 2005 the medical director of the PCT wrote to the applicant informing him that the visit had demonstrated ‘the serious risk you pose to patients under your care’ and so he had been suspended ‘to protect the interests of patients while a more detailed investigation into the issues of concerns take place’.
The applicant challenged the suspension. A hearing was arranged for 31 January 2005. In the meantime the applicant’s insurers wrote to the PCT indicating their view that the suspension was unlawful but advising the PCT that the applicant would nonetheless voluntarily absent himself from practice for four weeks to enable him to deal properly with the matters relied on against him. The offer was not accepted.
23780/08, [2010] ECHR 115
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights, National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2004
Human Rights
Cited by:
See Also – Malik v The United Kingdom ECHR 13-Mar-2012
ECHR The applicant alleged that his suspension from the list of those authorised to practise as doctors for the National Health Service constituted a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Health Professions
Updated: 30 November 2021; Ref: scu.396695