Downpatrick GP to be struck off

Downpatrick GP to be struck off

1 March 2017

A FORMER Downpatrick GP is to be struck off the medical register.

Dr Hugh Patrick Mary McGoldrick, of Crossgar Road East, will have his name erased from the register for “public safety and public confidence” following the determination of a Medical Practitioners Tribunal.

Dr McGoldrick was the first person in the UK to be prosecuted for falsifying clinical trials following a Crown Court hearing last year.

The 60 year-old retired GP, who worked from a practice at Pound Lane Clinic before moving to the Downe Hospital, admitted breaching trial protocols when carrying out a study on patients with sleeping disorders between November 27, 2007, and June 30, 2008.

Jailed for nine months and fined £10,000 for the offence, he spent a week in custody in June before being released on appeal with the remainder of his sentence suspended.

The tribunal, sitting in Manchester on Monday, has ruled that he be immediately suspended and struck off the medical register in 28 days due to the serious nature of his conviction.

The tribunal reported that it was not satisfied that Dr McGoldrick had sufficient insight into the seriousness of his behaviour which resulted in his convictions and noted that he had attempted to abandon his guilty plea both in court and again to the tribunal.

Due to his limited insight, tribunal chairwoman, Mrs Victoria Goodfellow, said there was limited potential for remediation.

She said his criminal conviction was so serious that it was “proportionate and necessary” for his name to be erased from the register, “both for public safety and public confidence.” 

“The tribunal considers that Dr McGoldrick has breached fundamental principles of good medical practice,” she said.

“When first challenged about his actions he lied and he put patients at risk of potential harm.

“Dr McGoldrick’s dishonesty was persistent — he repeatedly made telephone calls to the trial, misrepresenting that he was the patient and providing made-up information on each occasion.

“He attempted to cover it up when he was first challenged by Sanofi-Aventis (the drug company involved in the clinical trial), only admitting his actions when they persisted in their challenge.

“The tribunal recognises that Dr McGoldrick has had a hitherto unblemished record and that he continued to practice without complaint for some years while these matters were investigated.

“However, balancing all the factors in this case, the tribunal has determined that Dr McGoldrick’s conviction is fundamentally incompatible with his continuing to practise medicine.

“If he were allowed to continue, the public confidence in clinical research and in the professional as a whole would be fundamentally damaged.”

Dr McGoldrick has 28 days to appeal the sanction.