Cardiologist convicted of presenting false prescription escapes suspension

A consultant cardiologist who was convicted of presenting false prescriptions in colleagues’ and friends’ names to support his own addiction to painkillers has had conditions imposed on his registration for 12 months.

A medical practitioners’ tribunal in Manchester also found that Martin Royle, 45, carried out five transoesophageal echocardiograms after his employer had told him to refrain from the procedure. He was also found to have worked in private practice on six occasions when on call for the NHS.

Almost all of the hearing was conducted in private, and some of the tribunal’s written determination was redacted, as is usual when a doctor’s personal health issues are germane to …