Staffs Dr cleared of abuse charge – police caution rescinded – all at great expense to cash starved hospital
CASH-strapped hospital lost around Ł100,000 in investigating and providing work cover for a senior gynaecologist as he successfully fought to clear his name against false allegations he had surfed a child porn website. Most of the taxpayers’ cash was needed to employ a locum consultant to stand-in for Charles Redman during his nine-month suspension from the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.But expenses were also incurred by holding a disciplinary inquiry which eventually re-instated him; taking legal advice on the case; and referring women to Birmingham to receive the same specialist care as offered by Mr Redman who is a nationally-acclaimed expert in cancer of the ovaries.The full cost was revealed by Dave Crowley, chief executive of the hospital which is currently Ł253,000 in deficit and could not even prise Ł170,000 from the local NHS last year for badly-needed improvements for the care of stroke patients… Last week police announced a caution handed to the 46-year-old specialist last Summer by officers involved in the nationwide Operation Ore probe had been rescinded because a more detailed examination of a website undermined any evidence he surfed it.Police in Derbyshire, where he lives, also removed his name from the sex offenders’ register after accepting the caution was “unsound.”
