A DOCTOR, who took hold of a patient during a heated consultation and then was dishonest about his conduct during a crown court trial, has been suspended from practising for nine months.

Dr Abiodun Bale, who was a trainee at the Hyndburn Medical Practices in Oswaldtwistle, insisted he never touched Sheena Cunningham during a Burnley Crown Court assault trial.

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And Dr Bale, while being interviewed about the matter by a colleague at the Union Road surgery, maintained that his only physical contact with Mrs Cunningham was during an examination.

But after hearing evidence from the patient, a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel has concluded that she was grabbed as she went to leave a consultation room in March 2013.

Dr Bale was later cleared of the assault charge following a crown court trial but was brought before a MPTS misconduct hearing over his actions during the incident, and a second involving another patient, Maria Hindle.

In Mrs Cunningham’s case, the panel found that the Lagos-trained medic raised his voice to her and said: “I am trying to help you and you are not listening to me.”

The hearing was told how he then used his foot and body to prevent her closing the consultation room’s door behind her, and took hold of her left forearm.

But the three-strong disciplinary panel was not satisfied that he then tried to pull her back into the room twice, or ignored requests to release her arm. Another incident in March 2013 saw Dr Bale become embroiled in another dispute with a second patient, Mrs Hindle, at the same practice.

The panel found the GP had behaved inappropriately by standing over her and raising his arms, while saying ‘for God’s sake, I’ve other people to see besides you’, then shouting ‘just tell me’. He then followed her to the reception area and made repeated demands for her to return to the consultation room. But further charges that the doctor had taken hold of her, urged her to ‘come sit down’ or repeatedly rang her on a mobile phone, to request her return, were dismissed.

Announcing his suspension, after his fitness to practice was found to be impaired, panel chairman Rev Robert Lloyd-Richards, said: “For a doctor knowingly to give false evidence in a criminal court is a serious matter which brings the medical profession into disrepute.”

He said that the assault claim involving Mrs Cunningham may have been “exaggerated”, given the evidence, but Dr Bale’s reaction and behaviour since had not been appropriate.

Dr Bale claimed he had been the victim of “collusion” between the patients, police and Crown Prosecution Service during the affair, the hearing was told.