Suspension of Staff

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  • A CONSULTANT has been told that he faces dismissal from his job at a teaching hospital after investigating the record of a surgeon whose mortality rates were up to four times, higher than national targets. Alban Barros D'Sa, an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons, has been suspended from Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry for nearly two years, despite recommendations from an independent panel that he be reinstated. Freedom to Care from The Times 18 June 2001
  • The NHS situation is nationally unsatisfactory with 500 senior staff currently suspended awaiting drawn out GMC adjudication, at an average cost of £250,000 per case, as per Barros D Sa s suspension £500,000 has been set aside for Briony Ackroyd s pending case.  Letter from B. Newson Rugby Advertiser  08 November 2001
  • A CONSULTANT who questioned whether the practice of squeezing a fifth patient into a four-bed bay led to someone's death has been suspended. University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust cardiac consultant Dr. Raj Kumar Mattu faces allegations of bullying a junior doctor.   Rugby Advertiser 28 February 2002
  • SUPPORTERS of a whistle-blowing consultant suspended from Walsgrave Hospital have stepped up the fight to have him reinstated. A meeting was held in Coventry on Saturday to discuss the case of heart surgeon Raj Mattu, who was suspended on February 21 after allegations of bullying a junior colleague.  Rugby Advertiser 12 September 2002
  • SUPPORTERS of cancer surgeon Briony Ackroyd are angry that her fate may not be decided until next year. They want incoming Walsgrave Hospital chief executive David Roberts to make the case his top priority.    Rugby Advertiser 20 September 2002
  • SUPPORTERS of a whistle-blowing surgeon suspended from Walsgrave Hospital say a decision on his future is expected before Christmas. And campaigners hope a well-attended meeting of the Dr. Raj Mattu Reinstatement Committee in Coventry on Friday October 4 at 7pm in the Allesley Hotel, Birmingham Road, increases the pressure on hospital bosses. Rugby Advertiser 16 October  2002
  • ONCE controversial surgeon Alban Barros D'Sa is retiring from St. Cross Hospital and Walsgrave after 24 years.  Rugby Advertiser 30 October 2002
  • Freedom to Care has campaigned against misuse of suspensions in the NHS for many years. In previous issues of The Whistle, I have referred to two whistleblowers at my local hospital, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust who, about two years apart, highlighted the excessive post-operative death rate of a colleague and the dangerous overcrowding of wards. Each was suspended for well over a year on similar charges of alleged bullying of junior staff. Alban Barros D’Sa was reinstated shortly before his normal retirement date and Dr Raj Kumar Mattu is still suspended.   Freedom to Care November 2003
  • Two years after a heart specialist was suspended from a hospital, an MP claims the trust is still causing unnecessary delays in resolving the case. Dr Raj Mattu was suspended from Walsgrave Hospital amid allegations of bullying a junior colleague. Supporters say he was victimised after complaining about hospital practices. Coventry North West MP Geoffrey Robinson says the trust is still dragging its feet over who sits on the panel that will decide Dr Mattu's fate. BBC News 29 May 2004
  • Surgeon supporters lobbying trust. Campaigners for the reinstatement of a heart surgeon are to demonstrate at the hospital from where he has been suspended for four years. Raj Mattu was suspended on full pay from Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry in 2002 amid allegations of bullying. A panel ruling that he get a written warning, has not resolved the issue. The hospital says by law it must hold another hearing, which cannot go ahead until High Court action by Dr Mattu is concluded. The protest is on Wednesday. Dr Mattu had complained over the practise of putting five patients into bays designed for four beds.  BBC 31 May 2006
  • Specialist must pay trust's costs.  A doctor who failed to win an injunction against possible dismissal by a hospital trust must now pay up to £60,000 in court costs. Doctor Raj Mattu was suspended in 2002 over an allegation of harassment. He lost the injunction at the High Court on Friday and now must pay two thirds of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust's costs. But a spokesman for a group supporting the doctor said the specialist should be reinstated. The ruling follows the trust "substantially" winning the case. The trust estimates its legal costs in the case to be at least £90,000 leaving a bill of £60,000 for Dr Mattu.   BBC 25 July 2006
  • Suspension lifted on heart doctor. A heart specialist who has been suspended from work since 2002 has been allowed to return to work. Dr Raj Mattu was suspended from the former Walsgrave Hospital, in Coventry, after a junior doctor alleged he had harassed him. Dr Mattu claimed he was being punished for speaking out publicly about conditions for patients in the hospital's wards. The NHS trust which runs the hospital has always denied Dr Mattu's claim. A review in 2004 cleared University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust of responsibility for any deaths in relation to overcrowding. BBC 30 July 2007

     

See articles for The Whistle and the report (59 pages) from the National Audit Office published on November 6, 2003.

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Sheila Porter-Williams
Campaign for Health Service Democracy
Green Haven, Halfway Lane
Dunchurch
Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 6RD
sheilaCHSD@porter-williams.freeserve.co.uk