Professor Philip Lamey to work under conditions after latest GDC hearing

A former consultant at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast has had his suspension lifted by the General Dental Council (GDC).

On 30 September 2014, the GDC’s Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) erased Professor Philip Lamey from its register of dentists pending appeal (click here for more information). Prof Lamey took the decision to the High Court and, on 27 March 2015, that decision was overturned and replaced with a six-month suspension.

The GDC has now ruled that the suspension be lifted and his registration be made subject to conditions for a period of eight months. In its ruling the committee noted that continuing Prof Lamey’s suspension would “serve no useful purpose” and would frustrate his ability to remediate.

The committee also accepted that the oral and written evidence from Prof Lamey was “genuine and sincere” with a “frank acceptance” of his clinical failings. However it also said: “…your professional isolation, lack of support and an unacceptably high workload (with just eight minutes allocated to each of the many patients referred to you) also contributed to those failings. The GDC has never disputed that you faced such pressures.”

The conditions set out by the PCC stipulate that he must work with a postgraduate dental dean/director or a named registered dental practitioner approved by the GDC to formulate a personal development plan. This will be aimed at addressing the areas of assessment, treatment planning, record keeping and clinical governance.

Prof Lamey is also to limit his clinical work to no more than four sessions per week, his patient numbers are to be set in compliance with guidance from the British Society of Oral Medicine and he is to allow 30 minutes for seeing new patients and 15 minutes for patient reviews.