Blackburn doctors set to face watchdog over patient record claims

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing has been convened for Dr Mohammed Raouf Alam and Dr Sarah Alam after a probe by clinical commissioners in Blackburn with Darwen over events in 2018.

Dr Mohammed Alam is alleged, on one or more occasion on March 30, 2018, 'to have retrospectively inserted an entry into one or more patient’s medical records to state the patient had been given a chronic disease monitoring verbal invite when this was untrue'.

And it is also further alleged, on one or more occasion between March 30 and 31, 2018, Dr Alam 'exception reported patients from Quality and Outcomes Framework indicators when the patient did not qualify for exception reporting'.

In the case of Dr Sarah Alam the chronic disease monitoring verbal invite allegation relates to dates between March 25 and 31, 2018.

The second allegation concerning her, relating to quality and outcomes frameworks, mirrors Dr Mohammed Raouf Alam.

The MPTS alleges that both of the doctors' conduct, in relation to the matters, was 'dishonest'.

An earlier hearing was told that the allegations related to an investigation by the Blackburn and Darwen Care Clinical Commissioning Group and the Mersey Internal Audit Agency and involved the medical records of 44 patients.

The tribunal was told that at the time of the initial investigation and before the referral to the General Medical Council neither of the doctors had an opportunity to respond or provide an explanation about the allegations in 2018, when they each left the practice in question.

An adjournment was agreed after a panel was told they had not had access to the medical records until 2023 since their departures in 2018 and there was a requirement to properly consider all the relevant evidence in the case.

The resumed hearing is scheduled to begin tomorrow, Tuesday, at the MPTS offices in Manchester, and is listed until June 24.