GMC regrets failure to act on police warning about gynaecologist

The General Medical Council has admitted that it failed to act after police told it that a gynaecologist practising in Yorkshire had been struck off the medical register while working in Ontario, Canada.

An independent inquiry into the case of Richard Neale has turned up correspondence between the GMC and North Yorkshire Police about Mr Neale in 1988. However, it was only in 2000 that the GMC found Mr Neale guilty of serious professional misconduct—after he botched surgery, operated without consent, did unnecessary procedures, failed to monitor the condition of patients postoperatively, and duped a patient into paying for a private operation. It then struck Mr Neale's name from the UK medical register (BMJ 2000;321:258).

Although the letters remain confidential, it is …