A doctor who worked at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital has lost his bid against being struck off.
Collen Nkomo worked as a locum in the city’s specialist children’s hospital before being struck off in 2018 after concealing fraud and drink-driving convictions.
A tribunal heard that the father-of-three had lied to the Child Support Agency about his work situation which led to a 20-month suspended sentence a year prior.
Dr Nkomo also failed to notify the General Medical Council about a 2015 conviction for driving, driving without a licence and failing to cooperate with a breathalyser test.
He received a two-year ban from driving alongside 60 hours of community service.
A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service has now rejected Dr Nkomo’s appeal to be allowed to practice medicine after failing to full accept his past wrongdoings.
The tribunal also revealed that he had ‘regularly watched the television documentary series GPs Behind Closed Doors’ in attempts to maintain his working knowledge.
Niamh Ingam, counsel for the tribunal, noted there was little evidence of employment and courses that Dr Nkomo claimed he had undertaken since being stricken off.
The report said: “Ms Ingham submitted that a primary concern for the GMC was Dr Nkomo’s heavy reliance in his oral testimony before this tribunal on assertions that were not supported within the documents supplied to the GMC and before the tribunal.
“This included references to courses for which there was no documentary evidence, claims of support from colleagues and of attempts to obtain clinical attachments none of which were documented in the bundle nor in Dr Nkomo’s personal statement.
“Ms Ingham submitted that for these reasons there persisted a deficit in the available evidence as to Dr Nkomo’s insight and remediation.
“Although there was some evidence available to the tribunal of his efforts to remediate his conduct, she contended that it was inconsistent and incomplete.
“She also noted a scarcity of courses specifically relevant to the issues that led to his erasure; while the bundle contained a certificate from an ethics-related course, Dr Nkomo asked the tribunal to place reliance on his claim to have attended many more for which there was no documentary evidence, for reasons that remained unclear.”