A locum doctor at Bantry General Hospital made serious errors by failing to spot cancers and other diseases on patients' scans, a disciplinary hearing has been told.
Dr Dawar Siddiqi failed to identify an aggressive brain tumour, the spread of prostate cancer and the spread of another cancer to the lymphatic system when reporting on the CT scans of different patients, the hearing at the Medical Council heard.
He failed to spot evidence of a previous stroke on one scan and found emphysema when the condition wasn’t present in another.
Dr Siddiqi, a consultant locum radiologist at the hospital from May to September 2013, claimed he is the victim of a vendetta by the hospital.
He alleged the hospital failed to apply fair procedures and made “mistake after mistake” in dealing with him.
He denies an allegation of poor professional performance brought by the council.
He also rejects an allegation by the council’s fitness to practise committee that his rate of error in reading up to 22 CT scans was unacceptably high.
He said his efforts to find a job since the council became involved in the case have been frustrated by “disinformation” spread about him and that he was unable to find work abroad because the council would not issue the required certification.
He said he had never come across a hospital with such basic facilities as Bantry in his years of working in different sites.
‘Primitive’ facilities
He said that the facilities in Bantry were “inadequate and primitive” and that his department was located in the corridor of the hospital, with the public passing through.
Dr Siddiqi, representing himself, told the inquiry that there was a significant backlog of work waiting for him when he arrived and that films were stored “haphazardly”.
The doctor noted that international research evidence showed a 4 per cent error rate in the interpretation of scans by radiologists.
While the council alleges a 10 per cent error rate in Dr Siddiqi’s reading of CT scans, he said that his performance was within normal limits when all of his work, including reporting on X-rays and ultrasounds, was considered.
The Faculty of Radiologists had suggested that he might benefit from further training in CT scanning and it was “amazing” that neither the HSE nor the hospital made any effort to address this point.
“The system of radiology in Bantry in 2013 was not fit for purpose,” he said.
JP McDowell, solicitor for the Medical Council, said Dr Siddiqi was employed in a standalone post in Bantry and was told at interview that “quite a lot of CT” was involved.
Dr Siddiqi was soon the subject of complaints by medical colleagues and local GPs, Mr McDowell said.
The solicitor said the hospital asked the faculty to nominate experts to review a random sample of 10 per cent of his work.
Their review found that his reporting of plain films and ultrasound was “just about satisfactory” but expressed concern about the reporting of CT scans.
It recommended a review of all of Dr Siddiqi’s CT scans. This report is close to completion.
Medical Council
The hospital then referred the issue to the Medical Council, which engaged Dr Peter Ellis, a consultant radiologist from Belfast, to review the CT scans.
He agreed with the findings in 40 scans but told the inquiry he had concerns about the reporting of 22 scans.
Dr Ellis reviewed each of the disputed CT scans in turn.
In one, he said a scan which showed the patient with spreading prostate cancer had been reported by Dr Siddiqi as normal.
In a second case, Dr Siddiqi suggested a haemorrhage or abscess, but Dr Ellis said the scan showed an aggressive brain tumour.
A third scan, involving a patient who had previously had Hodgkin’s disease, was suggestive of a recurrence, he said, but this had not been detected.
Dr Ellis said the three cases amounted to serious errors.
“I would expect a junior registrar to pick that up.”
From Pakistan, the doctor has worked in Ireland for various periods since the 1990s.
The hearing continues on Thursday.
