A surgeon “sacrificed” the care of an NHS pancreas transplant patient to treat two foreign brothers at a private Bupa hospital, an employment tribunal heard.
Professor Nadey Hakim, 57, was sacked by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in February for gross misconduct after leaving a 41-year-old woman’s replacement pancreas untransplanted for 25 hours — one of the longest times ever recorded. He is claiming unfair dismissal.
In October 2013, after carrying out a live kidney transplant between the brothers at the Cromwell hospital, in Kensington, the surgeon arrived at Hammersmith hospital four and a half hours after an operation began to transplant the NHS patient’s pancreas, the central London tribunal heard.
The woman spent three months recovering in hospital, the tribunal was told, but the average is two weeks.
Ian Scott, representing Imperial, which runs Hammersmith hospital, said: “You deliberately delayed the pancreas ... you are sacrificing the interests of the NHS to your commitment to the private patients.”
Professor Hakim, of Cricklewood, said he acted in the best interests of all three patients and that the NHS operation had been a success: “The outcome is excellent after 26 months.”
He said he was unaware of how long the organ was on ice and that he completed the NHS operation faster than a colleague could have. The hearing continues.
