Michael Watt, neurologist, to be struck off 'to protect public'

A consultant neurologist at the centre of Northern Ireland's biggest patient recall is to be struck off from the medical register.

A tribunal determined Michael Watt's removal was the only available option it had to protect the public.

His fitness to practise was considered "impaired" by the Medical Practioners Tribunal Service last week.

It also upheld an assessment that he put patients at risk due to incorrect diagnoses and unnecessary treatments.

The daughter of one of Dr Watt's former patients said the decision to strike the former neurologist from the register was "bittersweet" and did not go far enough.

Removal from the medical register takes place 28 days after a tribunal's decision, unless an appeal is made.

In the meantime, Dr Watt's registration has been immediately suspended.

The General Medical Council (GMC) carried out an assessment in 2018, after concerns were raised about Dr Watt's clinical practice.

At the time, about 3,000 patients were recalled to be re-examined.

The tribunal found that Michael Watt's performance had been unacceptably low across several categories including maintaining professional performance, the assessment of patients' conditions, clinical management, record-keeping and relationships with patients.

The panel determined that Michael Watt's failures were "stark, serious, repeated and numerous".

He has not been practising as a doctor since 2017.

Patricia Crook's mother, Maureen Grogan, was a patient of Michael Watt for 11 years before she died in 2018 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Ms Grogan was misdiagnosed by the former neurologist has having Parkinson's disease.

"Looking back, it was the beginning of the end," she told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme.

"She was fabulous, she was vivacious and actually the minute she met Michael Watt was her downward spiral, physically, emotionally, spiritually."

Ms Crook said her mother's spirit "was quashed" in the last few years of her life due to her misdiagnosis.

"Speaking to other people about their experiences, it's nearly like Michael Watt picked a diagnosis out of the air and then worked backwards," she added.

The decision of the tribunal to strike off the former neurologist came five years too late, Ms Crook said, given that the GMC's assessment of him was in 2018.

"It's bittersweet, and for me, as a daughter, as my mother as a victim, it doesn't go anywhere close enough," she said.

The ongoing saga made it difficult for Ms Crook and her sister to begin grieving their mother.

"It's like picking a scab, it's a fresh wound all the time," she said.

"I wish to goodness we had went somewhere else, but we took the word of a consultant and that's a big regret."

A previous Medical Practioners Tribunal granted him voluntary removal from the medical register in 2021, meaning he would not face a public hearing about any fitness to practise issues.

However, the decision was quashed in the High Court following a legal challenge by two of his former patients.

The new hearing into his fitness to practise began in September.

The Neurology Recall Patient Support Group, representing Michael Watt's former patients, said they welcomed the result.

"We nevertheless feel that Michael Watt has not been held accountable for the harm he has inflicted on hundreds of us patients who continue to live with the ongoing consequences of his actions," a statement said.

"We are also acutely mindful of the thousands of deceased patients and their families who have their own continuing heartache as only 1% of those cases have so far been reviewed."

The group said the GMC's performance assessment in 2018 supplied sufficient evidence to proceed to a fitness to practice tribunal.

The delay meant patients were put through a further five years of "unnecessary trauma" by providing evidence and witness statements, it added.

"It would seem that after all of these proceedings there is still no recognition by Michael Watt of the harm done to us patients," the statement continued.

"Clearly the decision of this tribunal to remove Michael Watt from the medical register is indeed the correct decision and in so doing, this tribunal ensures that no further patients can be harmed by this man."

Last month, Dr Watt's legal team withdrew from the tribunal, expressing concern about the impact the public hearing would have on his "serious mental health condition".

The panel has continued with the hearing in his absence.

Last Friday, a barrister acting for the GMC said Dr Watt's performance in the latter years was "not sufficiently good".

BBC News NI has asked Michael Watt's legal representatives for a response.