Scots health board 'put patients at risk' after ignoring warnings about disgraced doctor

A health board "put patients at risk" from a surgeon after ignoring external warnings he was a "poor doctor", a report found.NHS Tayside carried out a due diligence review into Professor Sam Eljamel, who it employed as a consultant neurosurgeon from 1995 until retiring in 2014, and its findings were published on Thursday.

A legal claim was made in February 2013 and the board launched a probe that June, with the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) carrying out a review following a complaint.In the next six months, Prof Eljamel operated on 111 patients, and the NHS received a total of nine complaints and settled two of them, branding supervision measures "inadequate" in a report. READ MORE: Humza Yousaf urges UK Government to drop 'ideological opposition' to safe drug consumption rooms A statement from NHS Tayside said: "This was indirect supervision which means he was not supervised directly in the operating theatre by another neurosurgeon."The NHS Tayside report said: "These patients were placed at potential risk of harm due to the inadequacy of the supervision arrangements."Dr Pamela Johnson, NHS Tayside executive medical director, told a board meeting on Thursday: "Police Scotland were involved at some stage.

I can't give you any more information than that. I have written to the patients who had their operation between June 21, 2013 and December 10, 2013 to inform them about the findings of the review and to sincerely apologise on behalf of the board."She apologised to patients and called on anyone who has concerns to get in touch through the liaison response team at [email protected].