Maltese doctor cautioned by tribunal over job application

Updated at 2:38pm with clarification on tribunal decision

A Maltese doctor who was accused of misconduct at a hearing of the Medical Practitioners' Tribunal Service has not had her "fitness to practice" impaired, an associate told this newspaper.

Dr Joanna Ghigo was reported by the Wigan Observer of having been let off with a caution, after a tribunal heard that she had claimed in a job interview that she was still working as a locum at the Countess of Chester hospital, despite not having set foot in it for seven months.

Ghigo was employed as a locum in obstetrics and gynaecology at a hospital in Chester until July 2011. However she filled in the application form in 2012 for a post at the Wigan Royal Infirmary, and when asked in interview about employment she indicated that she was in employment in Chester.

Checks revealed she had not worked at the hospital since June 2011, the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service heard. But a panel ruled that her behaviour was not serious enough to warrant punishment.

Tribunal chairman Prof David Katz said the lies “could have given her an unfair advantage over other applicants” but he added that Ghigo was a “competent and useful doctor” and no concerns had been raised by her new employer, Southend University Hospital, Essex. “Although there had been a significant breach of good medical practice, the panel has determined that the misconduct proved does not reach the threshhold which requires restrictions on her registration,” he said.

In a letter to the General Medical Council, which brought the case against her, Dr Ghigo previously said she had been distressed at the time of the interview because her father died the day before.

Ghigo was not present or represented at the Manchester hearing, and an earlier bid by her to adjourn proceeding was rejected. She was later given a formal warning by her professional regulator.