A MEDIC who tried to secure a university job after being sacked from a hospital trust for gross misconduct has been given a 12-month suspension.

Hamid Khan had been offered the role of a work-based tutor for the operating department practitioner apprentices programme at the University of Central Lancashire, a fitness to practise hearing for the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) was told.

But university bosses became concerned when of two potential referees for the role, one was unavailable and the other was on long-term sick leave.

And when the UCLan officials approached his last employer, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT), they were told Khan had been dismissed by the organisation for gross misconduct.

Khan had told his prospective employers he had left ELHT because he “needed to change for myself and for my well-being”, having also explained in correspondence about enduring a troubled year due to ill health.

The tribunal service heard that the employment offer by UCLan was withdrawn and he was reported to Khan's professional watchdog, the HCPTS.

Gregg Foxsmith, for the HCPTS, said the registrant’s dismissal "had involved a workplace interaction on December 24, 2020, and had taken place in the context of a Christmas party for various members of the trust.

"The incident had not involved dishonesty, had not taken place in a clinical setting and had not reached the criminal threshold. There was no criminal culpability and no report had been filed to the police."

He told the London hearing that Khan had engaged in "relatively serious dishonesty" by his conduct and there had been numerous occasions when he could have disclosed his past employment history.

Announcing a 12-month suspension for Khan, who was not in attendance, a HCPTS ruling noted: "The registrant had been dishonest in seeking employment as a registered ODP.

"He had failed to disclose the fact that he had been dismissed from his previous place of employment for gross misconduct, despite having had opportunities in which to do so in his interview and later communication by email and phone.

"He had not provided any evidence of remediation or insight and there was a risk that he would repeat his dishonesty."