A doctor who failed to call an ambulance for a critically ill patient and then lied about the repercussions has been suspended.

Dr Maryam Mohamed Al Qureshi was found to have failed in her care for a patient while working on an NHS 111 call-line, before repeatedly attempted to cover up an investigation into the incident.

A medical tribunal heard that Dr Mohamed Al Qureshi had been working in the IC24 out-of-hours call centre in Ashford in the early hours of June 2, 2016 when she was contacted by a patient who was extremely unwell.

The caller, referred to only as Patient A, informed her that she suffered from panhypopituitarism – a defect in the pituitary gland in the brain that can result in a number of serious health issues – and had been projectile vomiting.

The patient went on to explain that she was at risk of an Addisonian crisis – a life-threatening situation that could have seen her collapse.

However, Dr Mohamed Al Qureshi failed to understand the serious nature of the situation, and organised a call-back for later on in the day rather than calling an ambulance for the patient.

As a result, the patient was forced to call back twice more before another doctor finally called an ambulance for her, by which point she was exhibiting signs of an Addisonian crisis.

She was taken to hospital, where on the way her condition worsened and she eventually required a stay of five nights to stabilise.

The morning after she was admitted, she then got a call from her GP responding to the referral that Dr Mohamed Al Qureshi had made.

In August of the same year, Patient A submitted a formal complaint concerning incident to IC24, with Dr Mohamed Al Qureshi being informed of the complaint almost immediately.

The complaint would later be escalated to include bosses from a First Tier Tribunal, who would eventually make the decision to remove her form the Performer’s List of GPs, which affects who can and cannot practise as GP in the country.

Despite this, the doctor was found to have lied in at least three appraisals from 2016 to 2019 when asked to declare any suspensions, restrictions or investigations that had occurred since her last appraisal.

She also was found to have attempted to stall the First Tier Tribunal investigation by not engaging with officers, as well as failing to inform the NHS as to where she was working in 2018, even when asked multiple times.

“There is insufficient evidence to conclude that Dr Mohamed Al Qureshi has developed insight into her conduct...”

At a Medical Practitioners Tribunal (MPT) hearing in February 2022, Dr Mohamed Al Qureshi was found to have committed serious misconduct in her failures to help Patient A, and her subsequent attempts to cover up the investigation and stall other probes.

The tribunal also found her fitness to practise was impaired, and suspended her from practising for a year, with a second hearing to be heard this year.

However, at this year’s hearing, held on March 10, the tribunal found that the doctor – who did not attend – had once again failed to engage with regulators during her suspension.

An excerpt from a report of the hearing said: “The Tribunal was concerned that Dr Mohamed Al Qureshi’s engagement has been limited.

“She does not appear to have appreciated that there is a persuasive burden upon her to evidence that she is safe to return to unrestricted practice and is no longer impaired.

“Given the information before this tribunal, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that Dr Mohamed Al Qureshi has developed insight into her conduct to appreciate why there was misconduct and how she can minimise the likelihood of repetition.

“This tribunal has therefore determined that Dr Mohamed Al Qureshi’s fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct.”

The tribunal went on to suspend the doctor for a further year, at which point the case will be reviewed again.

“This was the appropriate sanction required to protect the public, to promote and maintain public confidence in the medical profession, and to promote and maintain proper professional standards and conduct for members of the profession,” the report added.