Baby P doctor suspended for one year

Baby Peter's GP, who failed to spot that the toddler was suffering abuse eight days before his death, was suspended for a year today for misconduct. But Jerome Ikwueke, 63, escaped being struck off by a disciplinary panel that had previously ruled there were serious failings in his handling of Peter Connelly's case. He had noticed a marked change in the personality of the previously happy 17-month-old when he was brought to his surgery in late July 2007, observing that the boy seemed "withdrawn" and pulled away from him, but breached his professional duty to the child by not carrying out a full examination, making an urgent referral for further checks or sharing information with a health visitor or social workers, a General Medical Council panel found at an earlier hearing. Peter died in Tottenham, north London, eight days after the consultation. The GMC committee had already found that Ikwueke's fitness to practise was impaired by his misconduct. In announcing its decision to suspend him from the medical register for the maximum period of 12 months, but not to strike him off, it said that despite the "serious breaches", his failings were "not fundamentally incompatible" with continued registration as a doctor. Although concerned at his "limited insight" before and during the hearing, the panel concluded that the GP did not present a danger to patients in the future, had taken extensive steps to remedy the issues identified, and shown "undoubted remorse". But the chair of the panel chair, Judith Worthington, said it was necessary to suspend Ikwueke for the maximum period "to maintain public confidence in the profession and to declare and uphold proper standards of conduct and behaviour". The panel had previously ruled that he should have considered the possibility of child abuse when he noticed Peter had bruises on his chest and head at an appointment on October 13 2006, rather than accepting a claim by the child's mother that he had fallen downstairs at "face value". He also failed to mention these injuries when he referred Peter to hospital with further bruising two months later. Peter suffered 50 injuries despite receiving 60 visits from social workers, doctors and police over the final eight months of his life. His mother Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend Steven Barker, and his brother Jason Owen were jailed at the Old Bailey in May last year for causing or allowing his death. Worthington told Ikwueke at an earlier hearing: "Your failure towards Peter Connelly was not an isolated incident. "It was a series of failures over a period of 10 months and included a number of serious breaches of your professional duty, culminating in your failings on July 26 2007 when Peter Connelly's mother brought him to see you. "On that day, his changed demeanour and appearance coupled with all that you knew about his past should have alerted you to the very high likelihood of serious child abuse so that urgent action by you was mandated." Ikwueke, who qualified as a doctor in Nigeria and worked as a GP for nearly 20 years, denied misconduct. He was supported at the hearing by West Drayton-based GP Anthony Grewal, who spoke of his "huge personal respect" for Ikwueke and said he would not hesitate to register with him as a patient.