A U.K. medical tribunal has issued a 12-month suspension to a doctor who worked while he was already suspended for misconduct.
Dr. Keith Wolverson was banned in November 2022 for nine months for criticizing the English skills of patients and for insisting that a female patient remove her face veil. In a new hearing that concluded on 19 September 2024, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) found he worked for the Reading-based Practice Plus Group on 17 occasions while the initial ban was in place, according to a BBC News article posted on 23 September.
Wolverson said he believed -- incorrectly -- that he had successfully lodged an appeal and could continue to practice, adding that the MPTS' appeal process was unclear. However, the MPTS panel ruled that the doctor had been informed clearly that his registration had been suspended, the report continued.
The tribunal said Wolverson had not demonstrated sufficient insight into reasons for his misconduct or the consequences of working in breach of a suspension order for patients, colleagues, or the reputation of the profession. "He did not show that he had reflected on the effect of his working in breach of a suspension order if there were to be complaints or other adverse events."
In an email to the MPTS sent on 16 May 2024, Wolverson wrote: "I didn't work at all during the period of suspension, other than the shifts that you [the MPTS] are well aware of, which I admit to doing so, because I can honestly state that the highly complex matter of submitting an appeal was being made and was in process and thus I felt that I was permitted to continue working."
The emails from MPTS were "spasmodic and often appeared after I had already contacted the courts," he stated. "I regret any errors in my application [to appeal against the sanction of suspension] and accept that those were made, with the analysis and application of hindsight."
Wolverson did not provide any further reflections or evidence to the tribunal after May 2024, even though he had earlier completed communication skills and diversity training courses, the MPTS noted. "Whether he had absorbed this information or not, the tribunal concluded that it was more likely than not he had worked as a doctor one or more times while suspended," it said. His insight was "at best partial," and the tribunal was "concerned by the prolonged and sustained nature of his misconduct."
Wolverson had been in medical practice for over 25 years, the MPTS continued, and there was no suggestion that he was a threat to patient safety.
Removal of face veil
Wolverson's first suspension was for misconduct while working as a locum doctor at Royal Stoke University Hospital and Derby Urgent Treatment Centre. He admitted to making inappropriate comments about the English language skills of patients between January and April 2018.
The 2022 Tribunal found that, on 13 May 2018, a patient referred to as Mrs. Q and her child attended a consultation with Wolverson, and he asked her to remove her face veil. Mrs. Q said she wore the veil for religious reasons and did not wish to remove it, but he repeated his request several times, and "caused" her to remove her veil.
The first tribunal also found that he dishonestly said in an email dated 25 May 2018 that the reasons for his actions during the consultation with Mrs. Q were that she "spoke poor English," he was "struggling to understand her," and he was "trying to look at her mouth movements to aid communication."
According to the MPTS, Wolverson had "breached fundamental tenets of the medical profession, that a doctor should treat a patient fairly, with respect, and in a manner that justifies the trust put in them by patients and the public."
