Gracie Foster: Doctor to continue practising despite 'serious misconduct'
A doctor who committed "serious misconduct" when caring for a four-year-old girl can continue to practise.
Gracie Foster died at Sheffield Children's Hospital in October 2015, with an inquest in 2018 finding "basic" checks could have saved her life. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) said Tim Ubhi had "cut corners" in her care but his fitness to practise "is not impaired". However, the MPTS issued a formal warning on Dr Ubhi's registration. The inquest heard that Gracie was due to have her tonsils removed but fell sick on a ward at Chesterfield Royal Hospital and was sent home as she was believed to be suffering from a viral infection. She was discharged and taken to her grandmother's home in Dronfield, but after she deteriorated, she was taken to hospital in Sheffield, where she died. Dr Ubhi, a consultant paediatrician who has practised medicine since 1992, said he wished he had "done more" for her. The MPTS found Dr Ubhi admitted he "cut corners" and "relied too much on his experience" instead of "taking ownership" of Gracie's care. While accepting "systems were at fault" at the hospital, the tribunal said it "is not excusable for any clinician... to delegate responsibility for a patient's diagnosis when he has been called upon to give medical opinion". It also found Dr Ubhi's witness statement for the inquest "was at odds with other evidence presented at the inquest and these proceedings", which caused "pain and upset" to Gracie's family. The tribunal concluded that "Dr Ubhi's actions fell far below the standards of conduct reasonably expected of a doctor and is sufficiently serious to be characterised as serious misconduct". 'Slow process' Dr Ubhi had gone through "remediation" since Gracie's death, the tribunal found, and has sought "to share his experience with colleagues so that others can learn from the errors that he made". However, the "slow process" of "extensive reflection and remediation" led to "a continued lack of openness and candour" with Gracie's mother and the inquest, which "damaged the reputation of the medical profession and the public trust in it". As a result, the MPTS issued a formal warning on Dr Ubhi's registration. "It is necessary to indicate to Dr Ubhi, the profession and the public that doctors must be open when things go wrong," it said. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.