Doctor suspended

Board rules that woman did not act appropriately

A DOCTOR who was convicted of possessing illegal drugs has been suspended for a year.

Katy McAllister, of Seafield Close in the West End, faced a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing in Manchester after she admitted being concerned in the supply of drugs during a High Court trial.

During the trial, the disgraced medic was found not guilty of causing the death of her friend Louise McGowan at Voodoo Tattoo in Perth Road in May 2015.

It was alleged by prosecutors that McAllister had supplied Mrs McGowan, 27, with a cocktail of powerful painkillers.

Her counsel Mark Stewart QC argued at the High Court in Glasgow that there was insufficient evidence against his client and McAllister was acquitted of the charge by Judge Graham Buchanan QC.

However, McAllister pleaded guilty to charges of supplying or offering to supply diazepam and temazepam to other individuals, as well as possessing magic mushrooms and the controlled drug midazolam.

This led to an MPTS tribunal — who suspended her for a year for the conviction and subsequent sentence — which they said impaired her fitness to practise.

The report said: “The conduct giving rise to the offence was capable of remediation by a doctor who demonstrated meaningful insight and who was able to satisfy the tribunal that all appropriate steps had been taken to address the risk of repetition.”

However, the tribunal found that her fitness to practise was i mpaired because of her criminal convictions.

The report said: “This is in order to address the wider public interest, the need to uphold proper professional standards and public confidence in the medical profession.

“Those overarching responsibilities would be undermined if a finding of impairment were not made.”

The tribunal also said that they accepted that McAllister taking midazolam from her place of work had been a “genuine mistake” but that she had “managed t his situation wholly inappropriately”.

However, they accepted evidence from McAllister that she would act differently in the future.

Attempts were made to contact McAllister but the Tele was unable to reach her at the time of going to press.

Katy McAllister has been suspended.

The High Court in Glasgow.