Consultant anaesthetist cleared to resume practice after tribunal issues two-year warning over conduct during surgery
Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service finds serious misconduct but rules fitness to practise not impaired after 2023 incident in which doctor left patient unattended
A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel has cleared a consultant anaesthetist to resume his medical career while placing a written warning on his registration for two years after he left a patient unattended during an operation to engage in sexual activity with a colleague.
The panel in Manchester found that Suhail Anjum, 44, engaged in conduct that amounted to serious misconduct but concluded there was a "very low risk" of repetition and that his fitness to practise was not impaired. The incident occurred in 2023 at Tameside General Hospital during a laparoscopic procedure to remove a gallbladder.
According to the tribunal's findings, Anjum left the operating theatre during the keyhole surgery after telling colleagues he needed a "comfort break". A second nurse preparing equipment in an adjacent theatre discovered Anjum and a nurse referred to in the hearing as "Nurse C" engaging in sexual activity. The panel said the doctor had left a vulnerable patient unattended and put his own interests before those of the patient and colleagues.
The tribunal described the conduct as breaching good medical practice, saying it harmed the reputation of the profession. Panel chair Rebecca Miller said a public warning was necessary "to ensure that public confidence is maintained in the profession and the regulatory system" and to act as a deterrent.
The patient suffered no reported harm, the panel noted. Anjum admitted the allegations and told the hearing he felt "shame and guilt at this horribly embarrassing incident," describing it as a single lapse that occurred during a period when he and his wife "were not connecting as a couple." He told the panel he was "genuinely sorry and shamed" and said he would not repeat the behaviour.
The panel accepted that Anjum had been honest with investigators and had shown genuine remorse. It concluded the episode was a momentary lapse of judgment rather than part of a sustained pattern of misconduct, but nonetheless found his actions amounted to serious misconduct.
Anjum qualified in Lahore in 2004 and began working in the United Kingdom in 2011, holding posts in Bristol, Milton Keynes and Dartford before joining the Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust in 2015. He left the trust in 2024, worked in Liverpool and is currently working in Pakistan. The doctor has expressed hopes of returning to work in the NHS.
Under the panel's determination, the written warning will remain on Anjum's registration for two years. The tribunal's decision means he may continue practising subject to that sanction and any conditions that might be imposed in the future, with regulators saying the measure was intended to protect public confidence while recognising the remorse and admissions made by the doctor.
Medical regulators and professional bodies have long emphasised that abandoning a patient during an operation is a serious breach of professional standards because it directly risks patient safety. In reaching its decision, the panel balanced the seriousness of the conduct, the absence of reported harm to the patient, and the doctor's cooperation and expressions of remorse.
The trust involved declined to detail personnel matters, citing confidentiality, but NHS guidance and professional standards require employers to investigate incidents that may compromise patient safety and to refer concerns to the General Medical Council when appropriate. The tribunal's published findings outline both the misconduct and the reasons for the regulatory outcome, which aims to maintain public trust in the oversight of medical practice.