Tameside doctor who left patient to have sex with nurse allowed to practise

A consultant anaesthetist who left a patient mid-surgery to have sex with a nurse in a neighbouring operating theatre has avoided a ban.

Dr Suhail Anjum, 44, was working at Tameside Hospital, Ashton-under-Lyne, on 16 September 2023 when he was caught in a “compromising position” with a colleague, referred to in proceedings only as Nurse C.

This week the medical tribunal has ruled that the doctor is at “very low risk” of repeating his serious misconduct.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) heard how Dr Anjum, a married father-of-three, was overseeing five operations in theatre five that day. During the third case, he asked another nurse to monitor the patient under anaesthetic while he took a “comfort break”.

Instead, he went to another operating theatre where the sexual activity took place with the nurse on 16^th September 2023.

Dr Anjum was gone for eight minutes.

Andrew Molloy, representing the General Medical Council (GMC), told the panel: “She described seeing Nurse C with her trousers around her knee area with her underwear on display and Dr Anjum was in the process of tying up the cord of his trousers. Nurse NT was shocked and quickly walked through the theatre to the exit doors.”

Following the incident the surgery continued without incident. However, the incident was reported by Nurse NT to her manager, prompting an internal investigation and dismissal of Dr Anjum in February 2024.

Before the hearing, Dr Anjum admitted the facts of the case and accepted that he had engaged in sexual activity while on duty. He conceded that his actions were reckless and had the potential to put patients at risk.

Giving evidence, Dr Anjum said: “It was quite shameful, to say the least. I only have myself to blame. I let down everybody, not just my patient and myself but the trust and how it would look. I let down my colleagues who gave me a lot of respect.”

He insisted the encounter with Nurse C was a “one-off” and would never be repeated.

Last week he told an MPTS disciplinary tribunal that he wanted to resume his career in the UK and relocate with his family after they had moved to his native Pakistan.

On Monday the tribunal determined that Dr Anjum “had put his own interests before those of the patient and his colleagues” and the incident involving Nurse C “had the potential to distract Dr Anjum… and he may not have been able to give his full attention to the patients care”.

Tribunal chairwoman Rebecca Miller determined that although his actions were “significant enough to amount to misconduct that was serious”, she was satisfied that the risk of repetition of Dr Anjum’s actions were “very low”.

Mrs Miller said: “The tribunal considered that members of the public and the profession would understand the high level of scrutiny to which Dr Anjum had been subjected, and that a finding of serious misconduct would weigh heavily upon him.

“The tribunal was satisfied that this public finding of serious misconduct was sufficient to maintain public confidence in the profession and proper professional standards, and that there was not a necessity to make a finding of impaired fitness to practise for that purpose.”

The doctor is facing no sanction for his actions.