A consultant anaesthetist who abandoned a patient during surgery to have sex with a nurse has been allowed to continue practising after a medical tribunal ruled there was a 'very low risk' of him repeating the misconduct.
Dr Suhail Anjum, 44, left a male patient under general anaesthetic at Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, on 16 September 2023, asking a colleague to monitor the patient while he went to the bathroom. Instead, he went to another operating theatre where he engaged in sexual activity with a nurse, referred to as Nurse C.
A colleague discovered the pair in a 'compromising position', with the nurse's trousers around her knees and Anjum tying up his trouser cord. Anjum was absent for eight minutes, and the patient came to no harm.
Anjum was dismissed in February 2024 following an internal investigation. He later told a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing that the incident was a 'one-off error of judgment' and expressed shame, saying he had let down his patient, colleagues, and the trust.
The tribunal found his actions amounted to serious misconduct but deemed the risk of repetition 'very low'. No sanction was imposed, though the hearing will reconvene to decide whether to issue a warning on his registration.
