AN ANGRY mother who complained about disgraced GP Ahmed Zaman ten years ago has slammed the authorities for failing to take action earlier.

The General Medical Council hearing which suspended the Darwen doctor was told he had no previous history of neglecting his patients.

But the Lancashire Evening Telegraph can reveal that Sue Middlehurst complained about him in 1991 after he refused to come out and treat her sick daughter Tracy.

And four years earlier, Dr Zaman was reprimanded after failing to go out and treat a patient who subsequently died.

On both occasions, the doctor was found to be in breach of his conditions of service.

Tracy, who was 11, was taken to hospital with a burst appendix the day after Dr Zaman refused to see her. Surgeons had to carry out an operation to save her life.

Sue, 42, complained to the former Lancashire Family Health Service in 1991.

Dr Zaman lost the hearing and was ordered to forfeit £250. The amount was doubled when the decision was upheld at an appeal two years later.

The first warning came after Dr Zaman refused to visit pensioner 64-year-old John Kennedy, who suffered from emphysema and chronic bronchitis, despite repeated calls from neighbour Thomas Bamford.

Instead, the doctor left a prescription and went on holiday leaving instructions for a colleague to go and visit the sick man. Several days later Mr Kennedy died and an official complaint was made to the Family Practitioner Committee. The complaint was upheld.

Dr Zaman, who practised from Darwen Health Centre, also appealed against the 1987 ruling but his case was thrown out.

Today Mrs Middlehurst, of Powell Street, Darwen, said: "I can still remember what happened as if it was yesterday.

"We came very close to losing Tracy and I was bitter about the whole thing for years afterwards.

"I just wish the authorities had done something earlier about this man. " She added: "The surgeon at Blackburn Royal Infirmary told me how close we had come to losing Tracy and I decided there and then to make a complaint.

"It was a long haul and it took two years, but in the end I was glad I had gone ahead with it. They put me through hell at the appeal and the doctor had a barrister on his side while I had no-one.

"The whole thing was very traumatic, but I would do it again and I would be willing to help anyone thinking of making a complaint.

"If someone like a doctor is not doing his job properly then something needs to be done about it. These people should not be allowed to get away with the things they do."

Irene Lodge said her father Thomas Bamford complained about the doctor in 1987.

She said: "My father was well known in the area and was heavily involved in the community.

"He was very upset at the way the doctor had acted and was determined to do something about it. He was a patient at Darwen Health Centre and he always refused to be treated by Dr Zaman."

A private hearing into the case was told that Mr Bamford phoned the surgery a number of times and told Dr Zaman that a home visit was vital because Mr Kennedy was very ill and gasping for breath.

Dr Zaman said that on the information he had received there was no urgency.

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