A SURGEON has claimed York Hospital covered up lapses of care including two that led to patients’ deaths over a period of years.

Khursid Anwar Karimi alleges he was sacked by the hospital because he was a “whistle blower” who repeatedly raised concerns about patient care and treatment in the hospital and because of the colour of his skin.

He worked in the hospital's vascular surgery department from 2005 to September 2014. York Teaching Hospitals Trust alleges he was dismissed for gross misconduct and denies operating a cover-up and racial discrimination.

Trust witnesses are expected to allege the department had a good record and that Mr Karimi had been the subject of complaints about his attitude and professional competence since his first year there.

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From November 2010 onwards, he was restricted on what he could do in the hospital pending the outcome of internal and professional investigations.

Mr Karimi, of Osprey Drive, Acomb Wood, York, is suing the trust for unfair dismissal and racial discrimination. A hearing has opened in Leeds.

He joined the hospital in 2005 as a vascular middle grade surgeon on a year's probation later extended by a year, and was dismissed in September 2014.

He claimed that between 2005 and 2010 the workload increased from an average of ten inpatients in the department to 35 at any time following NHS reorganisation.

“I have worked in other hospitals in the UK but had never experienced such a working atmosphere,” he claimed in his witness statement.

"Lapses in patient care became common and without realising (it) proportionally I had got myself into relentless whistle blowing." The trust disputes both claims.

He claimed he was acting in self-defence, saying: “I began to realise that increasingly I was being blamed for lapses.”

He alleged one patient died because a medical swab was briefly left inside his abdomen during surgery and had to be removed after it was missed in a check count, and a second patient died because other doctors failed to recognise that the medication he was receiving was aggravating a failing kidney.

Mr Karimi claimed the consultant who he says was carrying out the operation on the first patient did not record the incident, though he should have done, and he claimed the hospital did not properly investigate his allegations.

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He denies carrying out a vendetta against the consultant, who features in several of his complaints, and claims he was wrongly criticised for his care of two other patients who also died.

He alleges he made complaints about different members of staff verbally until November 2010, when he submitted a written complaint about the treatment of nine patients. On November 15, 2010, he was restricted in his work with patients.

He alleges that although he was not racially insulted directly, he was treated differently from white staff because he is of Asian origin, and that the reasons for his sacking included the many complaints he made internally about patient treatment and care.

The hearing is expected to last some weeks.