York Hospital bosses today said an "extremely dangerous" surgeon who ignored a ban on him working unsupervised in the city misled them before taking up his post.

They reassured patients that orthopaedic surgeon Nalini Senchaudhuri had only carried out "very minor" procedures during his month at the hospital.

Senchaudhuri was yesterday struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC) professional conduct committee after being found guilty of ignoring the unsupervised surgery ban, put in place 18 months ago after he botched three operations.

The committee found him guilty of concealing the restrictions on him when he worked at three hospitals, including the spell as a locum orthopaedic surgeon at York Hospital in July last year.

Senchaudhuri, 62, was taken on by York Hospital consultant Charles McLaren, who told yesterday's hearing: "...he (Senchaudhuri) may have done one or two things unsupervised, but they were relatively minor."

But Michael Porte, hospital medical director, said today: "I can confirm that Nalini Senchaudhuri worked at York Hospital NHS Trust for four weeks in July, 2002, as a locum registrar. Furthermore I can confirm that he misled the trust on appointment by concealing the fact that the GMC had placed restrictions on his practice.

"Despite this, during this time he worked under close supervision at all times. His surgical skills were assessed by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and as a result he was only allowed to perform minor procedures. He worked almost entirely in outpatients alongside orthopaedic consultants, no patient came to any harm and no complaint has been received about the quality of patient care."

Mr McLaren said he had not been informed of the restrictions either by Senchaudhuri or his employment agency.

He also told the hearing he had not been impressed by Senchaudhuri's work and so "did not let him do a lot in theatre".

The only reason Senchaudhuri did not do complex surgery work in York was because Mr McLaren distrusted his ability, the GMC heard.

One of Senchaudhuri's botched operations saw Carole Sowerby needing walking sticks after an operation to straighten her toes at Bishop Auckland Hospital went disastrously wrong.

Another left Kevin Marley unable to raise his arm after treatment to repair a damaged shoulder.

And a third operation, at Bristol Royal Infirmary, was said to have left colleagues shocked after Senchaudhuri took an hour to insert a screw into Joan Bond's hip. The work should have taken only five minutes.

Senchaudhuri, of Du Cane Court, Balham High Road, south London, told the hearing that he presumed employers had been told by his agency about the GMC's restrictions.

He said he would appeal against the GMC's decision to the Medical Protection Society.

Updated: 11:14 Tuesday, February 18, 2003