Doctor struck off over boy's death allowed to return to work by Sarah Boseley Health editor

Hadiza Bawa-Garba, convicted over death of Jack Adcock, will be supervised for two years Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba hopes to resume working in February next year as a trainee paediatrician. A doctor who was struck off the medical register after the death of a child and then reinstated after a battle through the courts has been told she can return to work under supervision. Hadiza Bawa-Garba has not worked since November 2015 when a jury convicted her of gross negligence manslaughter over her treatment of six-year-old Jack Adcock, who developed sepsis and died of cardiac arrest at Leicester Royal Infirmary in February 2011. Blaming Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba won't protect other patients Read more Her case caused an outcry among doctors who believed she had been made a scapegoat for the failings of an overstretched NHS. Bawa-Garba now hopes to resume working in February next year as a trainee paediatrician. She is currently on maternity leave. She will be under supervision, with conditions on her medical registration, for two years. The medical practitioners tribunal service, reviewing her case towards the end of a period of suspension, found Bawa-Garba’s fitness to practise was impaired after four years without contact with a patient. But the tribunal said she understood what had gone wrong and had undertaken remedial training. The tribunal’s job was not to punish but to protect patients, it said. The tribunal “was satisfied that Dr Bawa-Garba has sufficient insight into her conviction, its seriousness and its consequences” and that the public interest had been served by two periods of suspension, of 12 and six months. Jack Adcock Jack Adcock, six, died at Leicester Royal Infirmary in February 2011. Photograph: PA Bawa-Garber was given a suspended sentence after her conviction for Adcock’s death. An investigation later said “multiple systemic failures” were also involved in the death. The medical tribunal gave her a suspended sentence but the General Medical Council (GMC) appealed and she was struck off, causing an outcry among medical professionals. Later the court of appeal reinstated Bawa-Garba to the medical register. The original suspension was reinstated and then renewed for six months in December. She has been supported by the Doctors’ Association UK, which welcomed the decision. Dr Jenny Vaughan, its law and policy officer and the founder of the organisation Manslaughter and Healthcare, said: “I’m a patient, doctor and a mother and I know that Jack Adcock should have received better care. However, Dr Bawa-Garba was working in appalling conditions that day in an NHS hospital, and all the evidence of what the hospital actually needed to put right was not heard by the jury. “There is a culture of blame in the NHS at the moment which, if left unchecked, will mean patient safety is not what it should be as staff will be too scared to admit their mistakes. The next generation of those who want to care will simply vote with their feet. It’s right that Dr Bawa-Garba is going to be restored to the medical register as the hospital too was at fault and should have provided better care. We are calling for a just culture so that the system here is made safer, as locking up individuals achieves nothing.” Where does the blame lie when something goes wrong at hospital? Read more Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, the chair of the Doctors’ Association UK, said: “Today’s verdict, whilst welcome, is no cause of celebration. There are no winners in this desperately sad case. However, restoring Dr Bawa-Garba to the medical register is the right outcome and will go some way in addressing the current climate of fear and blame in the NHS which is so toxic to patient safety. I have no doubt that Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba will now be the safest doctor in the hospital, and as a doctor and a mother I would have no hesitation in allowing her to treat my child.” A GMC spokesperson said: “We would like to acknowledge how difficult this process has been for the Adcock family and our thoughts are with them. The GMC and Dr Bawa-Garba’s representatives both submitted to the medical practitioners tribunal that her fitness to practise remains impaired due to the length of time she has been out of practice. It is important the doctor’s return to practice is safely managed. “The tribunal agreed, making a finding of impairment, and they have imposed conditions on Dr Bawa-Garba’s registration for two years in order to allow her to return safely to practice.”