A doctor is facing a tribunal after he took a break from a patient's operation to go and have sex with a nurse, with the pair of them being caught in a 'compromising' position by a colleague.
Consultant anaesthetist Dr Suhail Anjum and an unnamed nurse (referred to as Nurse C) had been working at Tameside Hospital, Ashton-under-Lyne, when they were caught by a colleague who walked into the operating theatre they were having sex in.
A medical tribunal heard that a patient had been placed under anaesthetic for their operation, when Dr Anjum asked a nurse to monitor his condition while he left the room for a comfort break.
Instead, he went to a different operating theatre, and was caught by another nurse who told the tribunal they 'encountered Dr Anjum and Nurse C in a compromising position'.
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The nurse who found them, referred to as Nurse NT, found the woman 'with her trousers around her knee area with her underwear on display', while the doctor was 'in the process of tying up the cord of his trousers'.
Nurse NT quickly left the room after what she'd seen, while Dr Anjum, 44, returned to the operating theatre and had been gone for around eight minutes.
The tribunal said: "It is right to say that no harm came to the patient when Dr Anjum was absent from the theatre and the procedure went on without further incident."
They heard that on 16 September, 2023, the doctor had been the anaesthetist for five cases in operating theatre five and had left the room during the third case.
The doctor said he didn't dispute any of the facts of the case, and admitted he'd engaged in sexual activity with Nurse C, saying he knew when he left the patient during the operation she was 'likely to be nearby'.
He admitted he'd put his patient at risk, but claimed it had been a 'stressful' time for his family as he and his wife, who is not Nurse C, were struggling to 'connect as a couple' following the premature birth of their daughter.
Dr Anjum left Tameside Hospital in February 2024 and returned to his native Pakistan, but he told the medical tribunal he wanted to come back to the UK to work as a doctor, and promised he would never repeat his 'one-off error of judgment'.
He said: "It was quite shameful, to say the least. I only have myself to blame.
"I let down everybody, not just my patient and myself, but the trust and how it would look.
"I let down my colleagues who gave me a lot of respect."
The medical tribunal continues today (12 September) in Manchester, with the panel expected to decide whether the doctor is unfit to practice due to misconduct.
Topics: NHS, UK News, Health, Sex and Relationships
Joe Harker