A GYNAECOLOGIST has received an official warning after a tribunal found failings which amounted to “serious misconduct” when he treated patients

Dr Hamdy Hashish practised at Southend Hospital, but in August, members of the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service met to consider whether his fitness to practice had been impaired due to misconduct.

Proven allegations included Dr Hashish’s failure to keep accurate operation notes as well as failing to perform appropriate examinations on patients when required.

The tribunal, which sat for more than two weeks to consider the case, published its conclusion on Dr Hashish last week.

Although the tribunal found Dr Hashish’s fitness to practice is not currently impaired, they accepted the view of medical experts who concluded some of his actions “amounted to serious misconduct” in 2019.

Dr Hashish, who originally qualified as a doctor in Egypt, had held an MSc in gynaecology for nearly 20 years but at the time he is said to have fallen short in the quality of his practice.

One pregnant patient, named as ‘Patient G’ in official documents, should have had a full blood count and follow-up plan arranged after they attended an appointment in March 2019.

Dr Hashish, however, was found to have failed to carry out numerous checks, and in another case, he did not complete a gynaecological assessment or diagnose their cervical mass as required.

Allegations which Dr Hashish admitted included a failure to keep adequate dates and times of consultations, as well as produce official notes in clear and legible handwriting.

At the conclusion of the hearing earlier this month, a representative of The General Medical Council argued fellow practitioners would have found his conduct “deplorable”.

But Dr Hashish’s representative argued although some of his actions had demonstrated poor practice, it did not cross the threshold into serious misconduct.

In a concluding paragraph from the MPTS’s final decision, the tribunal said: “Dr Hashish had demonstrated full insight into his failings in relation to each patient and submitted relevant remediation in relation to each.”

Dr Hashish has provided a witness statement formally apologising to each patient affected.