Six months after WAMES medical advisor Dr Nigel Speight was told to cease all ME related activity, the GMC has lifted all restrictions.
ME Association blog post, 12 October 2016: Dr Nigel Speight – some excellent news from the General Medical Council
We are delighted to be able to report some very good news about Dr Nigel Speight.
Dr Speight has just been before a review panel at the MPTS (Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service).
The panel decided to overturn all of the restrictions that were imposed on him last April by the General Medical Council (GMC).
These restrictions were to the effect that Dr Speight was not allowed to see any cases of ME, or to give any advice, or to have anything to do with the subject. This was provisionally to be for a period of 15 months.
The barrister representing Dr Speight at the tribunal stated that the whole issue revolved around a single complex case, and involved an area of medical controversy on which the GMC should not take sides. She stated that there was no evidence of patient harm, indeed the evidence was to the contrary, and that the patient had improved considerably since Dr Speight’s intervention.
The barrister also emphasised how these GMC restrictions had led to the ME community being ‘deprived of choice’. The charities he supports (including the MEA) had not been able to find a replacement for him and so there is no one to support families in contentious cases involving children and adolescents, as no other doctor wishes to ‘put their head above the parapet’.
The panel then decided to remove the restrictions in their entirety and without qualification.
Once the GMC has confirmed the situation, Dr Speight will be able to return to his position as Honorary Paediatric Medical Adviser at the MEA
Nigel Speight commented:
“As you can imagine this comes as a great relief.
Needless to say, I am exceedingly grateful to all who wrote in to the GMC in my support, and it was mainly because of them that I chose to contest this issue.
Best wishes and thanks to you all
Nigel Speight”
