THE decision to appeal the suspension of a doctor convicted of gross negligence manslaughter of a six-year-old boy has “set patient safety in this country back by 30 years”, doctors said outside the Court of Appeal today.

Hadiza Bawa-Garba was struck off in January after the General Medical Council (GMC) decided to appeal the decision of its own tribunal that the junior paediatrician be suspended for a year.

Jack Adcock, who had Down’s Syndrome and a known heart condition, died at Leicester Royal Infirmary in 2011 after he developed sepsis, which went undetected until it was too late.

Ms Bawa-Garba was found guilty after trial at Nottingham Crown Court in 2015 and given a two-year suspended sentence – despite her conviction, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal found she did not present a “continuing risk to patients.”

But the GMC pursued the case to the High Court which ruled earlier this year that it was “simply wrong” to impose any sanction other than a striking off.

Dr Jenny Vaughan, a consultant neurologist, told the Star that the GMC’s decision to appeal its own tribunal’s advice was “fundamentally wrong” and had “set patient safety in this country back by 30 years”.

She warned that the decision would lead to the return of a “cover-up culture”, where medical professionals were “less likely to admit their mistakes,” which ultimately puts patients in danger.

Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, chair of The Doctors’ Association UK, said: “It’s really given us a stark warning: if you make an honest mistake under the current conditions of immense pressure, you are likely to be struck off and potentially criminally prosecuted.”

James Laddie QC told the Court of Appeal that Dr Bawa-Garba’s case had become “something of a lightning rod for the dissatisfaction of doctors and medical staff in this country.”

He added: “They are baffled and angered by an outcome which has left the NHS deprived of the services of a young and talented paediatrician who suffers from no character flaw rendering her unsuitable to practise medicine and who, it is agreed, poses no risk to patient safety.”

Mr Laddie also pointed to the “systemic failings” which contributed to the environment in which Dr Bawa-Garba came to make the mistakes which led to this case.

The hearing continues.