Six doctors have won the right to bring a race discrimination case against a Greater Manchester health trust.
The GPs, who work in Rochdale and Middleton, also claim they suffered age discrimination and victimisation from bosses at Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust.
They will have their complaints examined at an employment tribunal after health bosses tried to have the case shelved.
The Rochdale-based GPs are Dr Harira Syed and Dr Abdul Saeed, of Nye Bevan House, Deeplish; Dr Gowri Swamy of the Strand Medical Centre, Kirkholt; and Dr Mohammed Humayun of the Tweedale Street practice. The Middleton doctors are Dr James Anglin, of Bowness Road, and Dr Sajid Khan of Rochdale Road Medical Centre. The group has a list of complaints dating back to 2008.
At a preliminary hearing in Manchester, health chiefs argued the employment tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear the cases because the doctors were on contract and not directly employed by the trust.
But lawyers acting for the GPs claimed there was evidence health bosses ignored race and age discrimination and were not acting in the public interest by removing experienced medics from their posts. Ghazan Mahmood, the doctors’ barrister, said: “The pre-hearing was called to determine whether the tribunal had the jurisdiction to hear these complaints. The PCT was trying to have the complaints by the GPs struck out.
“However, after all the arguments were heard the judge concluded it merited a full hearing. Each of the doctors has raised complaints on the grounds of race, age and victimisation.
“We believe it is beneficial to the GPs to have this trial because they will for the first time have a substantive response to their complaints. Hitherto, the PCT has failed to respond to complaints from all six of the doctors, which date back to 2008.
“They feel the PCT has put technical hurdles in their way rather than dealing with the merits of their complaints.”
Two of the doctors, Dr Syed and Dr Saeed, are currently being monitored by the General Medical Council ahead of fitness to practice hearings. Lesley Mort, of NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, said: “We are co-operating with legal proceedings relating to this case and will support a fair hearing.”
The case was adjourned by Judge Peter Russell, pending a full hearing scheduled for January.
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yawn
Have any of them ever been involved in patient/work discrimination. `have any of them ever discriminated against anyone in their lives?.
How much money will they drain from the PCT for their onw benifit and this is 'acting in the publics best interests'
Doesn't it make you sick!?, this lot have complaints dating back to 2008 and now they complain they are being discriminated against!!
Have they ever thought it may have something to do with incompetence and shoddy (dangerous) practice!!?
This is what we have after 13 years (thankfully at an end) of Liebour misrule. Any incompetent, dangerous, and shoddy person who should clearly be in no position to have peoples lives in their hands can make such totally ridiculous and unwarranted claims.
Six doctors have won the right to bring a race discrimination case against a Greater Manchester health trust.
Two of the doctors, Dr Syed and Dr Saeed, are currently being monitored by the General Medical Council ahead of fitness to practice hearings.
I wonder if one action has been brought about by another action?
it seems that moorlok didn't pass his/her cse english comprehension. let me spell it out for you - this group were making the complaints against the pct, and not the other way around.
this group are representative of a significant cohort of older GPs who are being forced out of their practices all over the country. reporting a GP to the GMC is a convenient way of putting them under pressure to give up their long term contracts without the cost of paying them off.
primary care trusts find old GPs easy targets for rationalisation (aka cutting services), and lose sight of the fact that many have worked tirelessly for many years in deprived areas like rochdale and middleton. the gap will not be filled by younger doctors!
what is dangerous here is ignorance. it's a good job lives are not in your hands, moorlok - i suggest you go back to watching jeremy kyle.
if people only knew half of what money is wasted by PCTs, they would want to scream.
This is the same PCT paying GPs 200 quid an hour to run sessions at supermarkets - more than double what they need to pay.