A SUSPENDED GP has been paid £400,000 while waiting more than three years for a disciplinary hearing.

Dr Eamon Mooney is accused of failing to provide the right care for 12 people, making incorrect entries in patients’ records and working as a locum in Liverpool and at a slimming clinic in Stockport while on sick leave. He has been barred from working at the Longford Street Surgery in Heywood since July 2006. His case will finally be heard at a General Medical Council hearing in Manchester this week and is expected to take a month.

Campaign groups described the sum paid out to Dr Mooney as

‘indefensible’ and called for

procedures to be speeded up. It is stood his paid suspension is one of the longest in the country.

By the end of last year, Dr Mooney had been suspended for two and a half years, during which time he had been paid almost £310,000

Mark Wallace, campaign director for the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: “It's completely indefensible to keep someone suspended and on the taxpayer-funded payroll for such a long period of time.

“This is both expensive and unjust. Either this doctor is guilty as charged, in which case taxpayers shouldn't have to pay him anymore, or he's innocent, in which case he should be allowed to get on with his life.

“Justice in these cases should be swift otherwise everyone loses out.”

Dr John Canning, of the British Medical Association, said: "The doctors' disciplinary system can be quite slow. It needs to be just and both sides need time to prepare. But even bearing that in mind, too many cases take too long."

Any doctor banned by their PCT should have their case resolved within six months, except in exceptional circumstances, he said.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb called for 'urgent' action to speed up the disciplinary process. He said: "These figures are scandalous.

“It is clear that something is going badly wrong with the way that allegations against GPs are being handled.

“The process of investigating and dealing with complaints is failing badly and must be speeded up urgently. It is a staggering waste of money and unfair on doctors and patients."

Lesley Mort, Director of Integrated Commissioning at NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, said: “We are obliged to adhere to the regulations associated with payments to a GP during a period of suspension, which is a necessary process designed to protect patients and the public whilst the GMC completes its investigations.

"We are awaiting the outcome of the GMC hearing and will take prompt and appropriate action where necessary when the outcome is made available.”.

The allegations against Dr Mooney include that his treatment of a dozen patients was 'inappropriate' and 'below the standards expected of a reasonably competent GP'.

It is also claimed he made 'dishonest' entries in patients' medical records, relating to blood pressure readings and whether or not they smoked.

The M.E.N has been unable to contact Dr Mooney despite repeated attempts.

The GMC said 94 per cent of its fitness to practise hearings took place within 15 months.

Earlier this year the M.E.N revealed that Greater Manchester health chiefs have paid out around £1.2m to doctors and other staff suspended from work in the last three years.