| Dr Philip Alan Barker will not be allowed to work in this country for a further year.
When that period of further suspension expires, he will have to prove to his professional body he has remained “drug free” and is fit to resume practising.
The man who established specialist child psychiatry services in Dundee in the 1960s told a hearing of the General Medical Council’s fitness to practise panel he wanted to live in Canada and do short-term locum work in the UK.
Reviewing his case, the fitness to practise panel said the “sporadic nature” of such work would not “satisfy the need for close supervision and monitoring”.
Dr Barker admitted to the panel he was “out of touch” and showed no evidence of continuing medical education in the UK. He has not worked in this country since December 2004.
The panel said they had no objective evidence he has “remained drug free”.
Dr Barker came under scrutiny by the GMC after an incident in Canada in 2000.
A GMC fitness-to-practise panel previously suspended Dr Barker after he admitted obtaining crack cocaine from a drugs dealer in Canada and passing two “rocks,” weighing 1.5 grams, to a patient and an undercover police officer in a Calgary hotel.
The incident occurred in February 2000 and the GMC has been involved in his case since then. But it was not until last year that the GMC found Dr Barker guilty of ”serious professional misconduct”' and suspended his registration.
Dr Barker appeared in person before the fitness-to-practise panel in London last January and admitted he had been treated for cocaine addiction in the 1980s. He also admitted obtaining work in this country without disclosing his previous cocaine addiction.
Following yesterday’s hearing the panel stated it was “not satisfied” Dr Barker had “shown sufficient insight into the seriousness of the matters under consideration”.
The panel decided that “for the protection of patients, to maintain public confidence in the profession, and to uphold proper standards of conduct”, it was necessary and to suspend his name from the GMC Register (effectively his licence to work) for a further period of twelve months. |
