Struck-off doctor still a risk to patients - panel

A doctor's appeal to be restored to the medical register has been denied after a tribunal said he would pose a risk to patients.

Dr Ioannis Tosounidis was struck off in 2014 when a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel said he made numerous errors and was repeatedly dishonest.

The locum consultant histopathologist, who had worked at Addenbrooke's in Cambridge and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, claimed the panel was a "cover up," and applied to be restored to the medical register.

Rejecting the application, a tribunal concluded that "restoration to the medical register would undermine patient safety".

In 2014 the MPTS panel said a review of 713 cases reported on by Dr Tosounidis found 228 with errors.

It said the errors "indicated significant departures from the standards expected" and his actions were "misleading and dishonest", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The incidents included adding another consultant's name to a pathology report without their knowledge and knowingly not telling the truth about why he left Addenbrooke's when applying for another job.

At a hearing to consider Dr Tosounidis' application to be restored to the medical register, he claimed a review of his cases had been sparked by other gastrointestinal pathologists after he changed a diagnosis given to a biopsy specimen, and said it was a "petty and vindictive move".

The report said he was very sorry about patients who may have had to come back for further biopsy because of his case and that he should be reinstated as he had "a lot to offer yet".

The panel said it noted Dr Tosounidis' expressions of remorse, but said other than this, there was a "shocking lack of evidence to demonstrate insight".

A tribunal also highlighted that it had been 10 years since Dr Tosounidis had practised medicine.

While he said he had undertaken webinars and shadowed in a pathology lab in Greece, the tribunal said it had been given no documentary evidence in relation to this.

Dr Tosounidis can apply again to be reinstated to the medical register, but will have to wait at least 12 months from the date of his last application.

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