Dr Sunita Khambra worked as a consultant anaesthetist at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA), which includes Fairfield General Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, Royal Oldham Hospital and Salford Royal Hospital, from April last year before resigning a few months later in August.
A tribunal, which took place on June 10, found that Dr Khambra “created a risk to public protection” following numerous performance issues raised by her colleagues.
In January, the trust submitted an online referral form from NCA to the General Medical Council (GMC), stating that Dr Khambra had “failed to demonstrate the competencies required for independent consultant practice in anaesthesia” and had required ongoing supervised practice.
It stated that 33 specific concerns had been raised by a range of colleagues, which Dr Khambra had denied before resigning from her role to find employment elsewhere.
The referral was raised after NCA was contacted for an employment reference and concerns were aired that Dr Khambra had not been transparent about the issues she had while working at the trust.
Dr Khambra was informed that she was required to undergo a performance assessment as a result and that failure to comply could result in her case being referred to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service to consider her non-compliance.
Dr Khambra disagreed with the concerns raised and informed the trust that she was going to relinquish her GMC licence to practice, saying that she did not agree to the performance assessment and that she intended to leave the UK and return to India.
She did not respond to several emails asking her to confirm this in writing though.
In her absence, the tribunal considered whether Dr Khambra had failed to comply with the GMC’s direction and whether there was a good reason for this.
On behalf of the GMC, Ms Gilsenan submitted that Dr Khambra has “created a risk to public protection because the GMC cannot investigate the numerous performance concerns raised which were considered serious enough to warrant issuing a Health Professional Alert Notice (HPAN)”.
This is a system where notices are issued to inform NHS bodies and others about health professionals who may pose a “significant risk of harm” to patients, staff or the public.
There was also “no objective evidence” provided by Dr Khambra to suggest that her non-compliance posed a reduced risk to the public.
The tribunal concluded that Dr Khambra had failed to provide any “valid justification” for her ongoing refusal to undergo the performance assessment.
It acknowledged Dr Khambra’s belief that she was being unfairly targeted but had provided no supporting evidence to substantiate this claim or to excuse her non-compliance.
Dr Khambra has now been suspended from the GMC for 12 months and her case will be reviewed in the future.
She is entitled to appeal the decision.