A FORMER Halton and Warrington Hospital doctor has been cleared of wrongdoing after he was accused of incorrectly telling a patient that they had cancer.

Dr Richard Schofield had faced a week-long Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing after a patient alleged that the urologist had mistakenly diagnosed him with ‘aggressive’ cancer of the kidney in June 2014.

But the MPTS panel concluded that the patient had ‘misremembered’ his consultation with Dr Schofield and found the accusations unproven.

‘Patient A’ had been referred to Warrington Hospital after a 2cm cyst was discovered on his right kidney, the tribunal heard.

The patient claimed that Dr Schofield, who no longer works for the trust, had told him that he was suffering with an aggressive form of cancer.

But Dr Schofield stated that he had only raised the possibility of Patient A having cancer after telling him that he had a cystic neoplasm, which could have been either benign or malignant.

Dr Schofield described himself as feeling ‘gutted’ after learning that Patient A had left the consultation without fully understanding it and felt his explanation was ‘not good enough’.

The junior doctor had never discussed a potential cancer diagnosis with a patient prior to this occasion.

Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s then medical director Paul Hughes referred Dr Schofield to the General Medical Council in December 2014 following a complaint.

It had also been alleged that Dr Schofield told his patient that he could not live with one kidney, and that he had not performed an abdominal examination as he had recorded in medical notes.

But the MPTS found all the allegations against Dr Schofield to be unproven following the hearing, held between September 11 and 19.

Tribunal chairman Andrew Young said: “The tribunal concluded that whilst Patient A was endeavouring to be honest and give a true account of the consultation, it is more likely that Patient A misremembered what happened.

“It found Dr Schofield to be inherently a doctor of good character.

“Before concluding this determination, the tribunal would like to stress in making its finding of fact it is not intended to suggest that Patient A was anything other than an honest witness doing his best to recall the consultation.”

Patient A was described by Mr Young as a ‘well-intentioned witness who did his best to tell the tribunal what he believed to be the truth’.

Professor Simon Constable, deputy chief executive of Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “A complaint was submitted to the trust regarding this clinician in 2014.

“Due process was following in relation to the complainant which, as the doctor had left the organisation, included referring the matter to the GMC at their request.

“After undertaking their own investigation of the complaint, the GMC made the decision to refer the case to the MPTS.”