A HOSPITAL surgeon repeatedly accessed confidential medical notes for patients he was not treating or responsible for, an employment tribunal has heard.

They have heard that Khursid Anwar Karimi tried seven times in one day to persuade records staff at York Hospital to hand over records of a patient who had died three years earlier.

According to evidence before the tribunal, he wrongly claimed to be a consultant and asked one of the administrative staff to obtain the records under her name and not his, and on another day accessed 73 patients’ records, of which 45 were for patients he had not treated or seen.

Mr Karimi denies claiming to be a consultant and denies that he breached confidentiality.

York Hospital Teaching Trust alleges that his actions justified him being dismissed from his post as a middle grade vascular surgeon on the grounds of gross misconduct by breaching hospital confidentiality and the terms of his contract.

Mr Karimi, of Osprey Close, York, is suing them for unfair dismissal and alleges that he was really dismissed for whistle blowing. The case continues at Leeds Employment Tribunal.

In her evidence, Polly Bowley, professional standards case investigator at the hospital, said she was initially asked to investigate three allegations of bullying and harassment made by Mr Karimi against a consultant in his department in 2014.

She found that the allegations were not proven and that the consultant’s actions were acceptable.

York Press:

During that investigation, Mr Karimi made 16 further claims about patient care at the hospital dating back three years.

She prepared a separate report on these claims and concluded after checking email trails and other evidence that they had all been fully investigated, including by an external clinician, three years earlier, and that the hospital then had concluded there had been no lapse in patient care that would raise concerns.

During the harassment investigation, the records department contacted her department about Mr Karimi’s actions on March 25, 2014, concerning the deceased patient’s records and the hospital management decided to suspend him from all duties.

The tribunal heard that the patient had been under the care of the consultant.

Mrs Bowley said she was asked to start an investigation on April 2, 2014, into allegations that the surgeon had breached patient confidentiality and that he had failed to notify his department of his whereabouts when at work.

The tribunal heard that after she submitted her report concluding that he had breached confidentiality policy and codes, the trust held a disciplinary hearing at which Mr Karimi was dismissed.

Mr Karimi challenges the way the investigation against him was carried out and her conclusions.

The tribunal has seen evidence that as of September 2016, Mr Karimi does not have a doctor’s licence.