A senior NHS Tayside doctor has told the Eljamel Inquiry that there was a missed opportunity to stop Dr Sam Eljamel from operating years before he ultimately left the organisation.
Dr James Cotton, executive medical director of NHS Tayside, said he would have stopped Dr Eljamel from practising much earlier if he had been responsible for making the decision at the time. He was giving evidence to senior counsel Jamie Dawson KC before the inquiry, which is being held before Lord Weir.
Mr Dawson asked whether something had gone wrong with the supervision arrangements put in place for Dr Eljamel.
“Fundamentally, yes,” Dr Cotton replied.
The inquiry heard that Dr Eljamel was placed under supervision in June 2013 following concerns about his practice. The supervision involved weekly meetings at which he discussed his patients, but did not directly address his surgical practice itself.
Dr Cotton said he could not understand why Dr Eljamel had been allowed to continue operating alone, or why he had been allowed to operate at all in light of the concerns raised.
He said a proper risk assessment should have considered whether Dr Eljamel required direct, one-to-one supervision of his surgical work, whether he should have been prevented from operating or whether he should have been suspended. Such a decision, he added, would probably have required relevant subject-matter expertise at the time.
Asked directly whether Dr Eljamel should have been allowed to operate, Dr Cotton said: “Yes, I don’t think he should have been. I think if I was to make that decision today, I would not let him operate.”
The evidence concerned complaints made before the supervision arrangements were introduced. The inquiry heard that a fellow medical practitioner complained to the chief executive of NHS Tayside in December 2012, alleging botched sight surgery. A further complaint about sight surgery had been made in 2007.
Mr Dawson asked whether those complaints, together with other allegations of malpractice over the years, should have resulted in Dr Eljamel being struck off sooner.
“It could and should have happened, yes,” Dr Cotton said.
The supplied Press Association Scotland report says Dr Cotton told the inquiry that Dr Eljamel could have been removed from the medical register seven years before his eventual departure. The two supplied versions of the report differ on the description of that departure: one refers to a dismissal in 2014, while the other says Dr Eljamel resigned voluntarily rather than facing a medical tribunal.
The report also says that Dr Cotton denied there had been any form of cover-up concerning Dr Eljamel’s actions over the years.
The inquiry continues.
