'After my conviction, I had a choice. I could abandon medicine or I could dedicate myself to once again becoming worthy of service to patients'

As he awaits details of what sanction the MPTS will put on him, Anthony McGrath has spoken passionately about how much his career means to him and how he wants put his past behind him and rebuild his life.

Speaking exclusively to the Meath Chronicle, Mr McGrath told how he remembered the exact day when he was five years old that he decided he wanted to be an orthopaedic surgeon after attended a Christmas concert in Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, and how “everything that flowed thereafter” was directed at achieving that ambition.

“I won a place at the most prestigious training centre in England, at Stanmore. I'm a fellow of the college. I have a masters in surgery, I've published 40 tier one journals, written chapters of the Oxford textbook of orthopaedics among others. My academic prowess and professional profile, without wishing to be seen as arrogant, are outstanding.”

However, he said the regulator is not permitting him to put what happened in the past, and that he now wants to look forward, but fears sanction will result in him being struck off the register. He spoke of his desire to return to Ireland and said he has applied for re-entry to the Irish register, but was advised by the Medical Council of Ireland that they would only further consider his application following the outcome of process in the UK.

“That prevents me from ‘coming home’ and continuing my lifelong vocation.”

Mr McGrath studied medicine, graduating in 1996. He received his UK GP licence in 2006. But it was orthopaedic surgery that was his real calling and before his conviction, had been working as a consultant at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore.

“Orthopaedic surgery is not simply the profession that I entered. It is the vocation that defined my life,” said Mr McGrath.

In his submissions to the MPTS fitness to practice tribunal he accepted that his behaviour was unacceptable but argued that there had never been any risk to patient safety or any question over his clinical competence and submitted many references from colleagues and friends in support of his return to work.

During his opening address, Mr McGrath said he accepted he had failed grievously in 2012 and 2015 and those failures were “entirely incompatible with the standards expected of a doctor and accepts that that dishonesty by a doctor is exceptionally serious”.

He said he deeply regretted his actions and the damage they caused to public confidence in a profession that he has loved since childhood but that those failures do not define the entirety of his life or his character.

“Following my conviction, I had a choice. I could abandon medicine completely or I could dedicate myself to becoming worthy once again of service patients. I chose the latter. During the past seven years I have devoted myself to reflection, education, rehabilitation and personal change.”

He outlined how he had engaged in mentoring, reflective practice, continuing professional development, ethical study, psychological treatment, medical rehabilitation, return-to-practise planning, and put forward governance proposals.

He said this represents “seven years of sustained effort to become a safer doctor and a better human being.

“That commitment has never wavered because my commitment to orthopaedic surgery has never wavered. I remain as determined today as I was when I was five years old to devote my life to helping injured patients recover their independence and dignity.

“I cannot undo the mistakes that brought me before this tribunal. No amount of regret can chance the past. What I can do is demonstrate through evidence rather than assertion that those mistakes are not the person who now stands before you today.”

“There has never been any criticism of my clinical ability. The GMC has never alleged that I presented any clinical risk to patients. No patient has ever alleged dishonesty in clinical care. No patient has ever suffered harm because of my medical practice. My convictions arose entirely outside clinical practice. Since my release I hae continued intensive study to maintain my professional knowledge.”

In some of his last remarks to the tribunal he said: “I have lived with the consequences of my actions every day for more than a decade. I have served lengthy prison sentence. I have lost my career, my reputation, my liberty and years with my children. None of that is said in mitigation of my responsibility. It is simply the reality of what has already occurred.

He added that the question before the tribunal was not whether what he did was serious- it plainly was. “It is not whether the public expects doctors to behave honestly. They unquestionably do. The question is whether having regard to all the evidence the public interest now requires my permanent exclusion from the profession to which I have devoted my entire life. I respectfully submit that it does not.”

He must now wait four months until 23rd October to learn his fate and whether he will be struck off the medical register or face a lesser sanction.