A FORMER North Yorkshire doctor has received an unreserved apology from the Kerr-Haslam inquiry after it wrongly cast doubt on his reliability.

Dr Derek Pheby, the retired director of the unit of epidemiology at the University of the West of England in Bristol, gave evidence to the inquiry into how the National Health Service (NHS) handled complaints about disgraced former York psychiatrists William Kerr and Michael Haslam.

He told the inquiry how, while he was working on a permanent contract at Harrogate Hospital's accident and emergency department, a patient had told him she had been sexually assaulted by Dr Kerr.

But Dr Pheby, who now lives in Somerset, was shocked when the inquiry report was published.

He said it inaccurately claimed he had worked as a locum in Harrogate and had later worked at Clifton Hospital.

The report said the patient had no recollection of her disclosure to Dr Pheby, and it appeared that his employment at Clifton had predated her admission, "casting doubt on the reliability of Dr Pheby's recollection".

Dr Pheby said in a letter to the inquiry secretary, Colin Phillips: "I have never worked at Clifton Hospital. I have never claimed to work at Clifton, and I did not state in either my written or oral evidence to the inquiry that I had done so." He also said he had never worked as a locum.

"It is bizarre that the reliability of my evidence should be challenged in an official report, readily available on the internet, on the basis of my alleged employment in a hospital where I have never worked having come to an end before the alleged assaults were reported to me in a different hospital.

"Had the assault not been reported to me in Harrogate District Hospital, there is no way that I could possibly have become aware of it."

He called for an erratum to be inserted into the written report and given equal prominence on the Department of Health's website.

Mr Phillips replied to Dr Pheby saying he was right to take issue with the report, and the inquiry fully accepted that he at no time worked as a locum or at Clifton. "Please accept my, and the chairman's, unreserved apologies."

He said he suspected the error came about during the editing phase, when an attempt was made to reduce the huge amount of information presented to the inquiry.

He assured Dr Pheby that it was not the intention of the report to criticise him, but said there was no mechanism for inserting a correction into the report, copies of which had already been distributed.

But Dr Pheby told the Evening Press he could not see why changes could not be made to the report on the Department of Health's website. He said he had sought legal advice and might take the matter further.

Mr Phillips could not be contacted by the Evening Press.

Updated: 10:17 Monday, September 19, 2005