Doctor is suspended for putting patients at risk by working 24-hour shifts to pay for his extension to his home
- Dr Bevan Hyder, 47, did back-to-back 12-hour shifts on at least five occasions
- He joined Crawley Hospital in 2013 as a locum in its urgent treatment centre
- General Medical Council said he would leave early to work at other hospitals
- Father-of-four was found guilty of misconduct and suspended for four months
By Richard Marsden and Miles Dilworth For The Daily Mail
Published: 17:04 EDT, 7 July 2019 | Updated: 04:28 EDT, 8 July 2019
An NHS doctor who worked for 24 hours at a time to pay for a home extension has been suspended for putting patients at risk.
Dr Bevan Hyder, 47, did back-to-back 12-hour shifts on at least five occasions but claimed his ‘fitness regime’ meant he did not get tired.
He would leave his first shift early, without permission, to travel to other hospitals for freelance work he found through a locum agency, the General Medical Council said.
It viewed the risk posed by his conduct so seriously that he was brought before the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service, which had the power to strike him off.
Dr Bevan Hyder, 47, did back-to-back 12-hour shifts on at least five occasions. He joined Crawley Hospital (pictured) in 2013 and would leave work early to do shifts at other hospitals
He was found guilty of misconduct and suspended for four months – but can return to practise afterwards.
Catherine Cundy, barrister for the GMC, told the tribunal: ‘Even though there was no evidence of harm being caused to patients by Dr Hyder’s actions, they presented an unwarranted risk to the safety of patients.’
Hyder, a consultant in emergency medicine, trained in the Caribbean state of Grenada, and came to the UK in 2004. He joined Crawley Hospital in October 2013 as a locum in its urgent treatment centre (UTC).
In August 2014, he began a full-time contract requiring him to work three 12-hour shifts per week in the UTC and A&E.
But the GMC said he walked out of shifts at the hospital in West Sussex up to an hour and 42 minutes early on five occasions over four months, without telling colleagues why he was going.
The father of four said he needed the cash for an extension to his detached house in Eltham, south London, which he sold for £735,000 last year. It is now a care home.
A Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal found Dr Hyder guilty of misconduct and suspended him for four months. The doctor said he needed extra cash for an extension to his house (file picture)
Hyder’s former neighbour Gary Bolter, 62, estimated he’d spent at least £150,000, adding: ‘They built about an extra 25 per cent on to the house – almost an entire new floor.’
Hyder tried to claim his motivation for the shifts was ‘not financial, but altruistic’.
The tribunal, sitting in Manchester, said he had ‘forcefully and repeatedly’ stated that he worked for 24 hours to help more patients, not for money.
But in a statement, he admitted he was seeking ‘more funds to help my family so they would be proud of me’, adding: ‘The primary purpose of the extra work was that my family was growing and we needed extra space.’
He worked the 24-hour shifts between August and November 2014, travelling to work in Brighton, London and Basildon, Essex.
Miss Cundy said Hyder acted ‘dishonestly’ and ‘put his own needs above those of patients’.
The tribunal said: ‘Certain aspects of his evidence were implausible – for example, his insistence that leaving Crawley shifts early posed no risk.’
He resigned from Crawley Hospital in October 2015. It, did not respond to a request for comment last night.
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