Sacked surgeon who blew whistle on patient safety now works as Uber driver
A HEART surgeon sacked after raising concerns about patient care has won a six-figure sum from the NHS – and now works as an Uber driver.
Consultant Peter O’Keefe, 52, was suspended on full pay for more than three years while the Labour-run Welsh NHS dithered over claims that he had bullied junior colleagues.
In 2015, he was sacked for misconduct from his £95,000-a-year job at the 1,000-bed University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff.
He had been suspended in 2012 and barred from working at a time when the hospital was being criticised for lengthy waiting times for cardiac procedures. NHS chiefs paid Mr O’Keefe an out-of-court settlement last week – just as his employment tribunal was due to start.
In all, the saga is thought to have cost taxpayers £1million. The whistleblower believed he was being punished for raising the alarm over the treatment of a patient with serious brain damage.
His intervention led to a damning report on safety failings. Yesterday, the father-of-four said he was relieved to swap the pressures of the NHS for a simple life as a taxi driver earning £12,000.
He added: ‘It’s a bitter-sweet outcome for me. It’s an enormous relief not to have the pressure any more, but this has gone on so long and I can’t go back to medicine.
‘I’ve tried to get work but I’m the wrong side of 50.
‘I came to the conclusion that the best thing was to give myself a job – so I’ve become an Uber driver, and I’m loving it.
‘Driving a cab is not what I would have wished for myself. But after five years it’s difficult to demonstrate to the General Medical Council that you still have the knowledge and skills. I miss meeting patients and their families and I miss the surgery a lot.
‘But I don’t miss the conflicts, the pressures and the atmosphere of working in the NHS. It is such an unpleasant place to work.’
He told the Western Mail newspaper: ‘I was transformed from an outstanding surgeon, developing cutting-edge techniques, travelling the world to give lectures, train other surgeons, to a pariah, a disgrace, an embarrassment, in just a few weeks. The total bill, paid let’s not forget by the taxpayer, is a matter of speculation, but I would be amazed if there was any change out of £1million.
‘That’s quite a bill – a lot of public money.’
He got his taxi driver’s licence on August 1 and drives a rented Skoda after selling his Mercedes.
Mr O’Keefe said one of his passengers was the son of a woman he operated on ten years ago, adding: ‘When he realised, he became emotional and said I’d given his family ten years with his mum they would not have had. He said he could never thank me enough, but I told him, “You just have”.’
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board had recommended Mr O’Keefe for a National Clinical Excellence Award in 2011, just months before suspending him.
It said up to 40 staff complained about his behaviour at the hospital. But Mr O’Keefe felt he was victimised for speaking out over safety failings in treatment.
At the time of his suspension a friend of the consultant said: ‘The allegations against him had nothing to do with his clinical competence. He is an assertive character. It can be stressful in an operating theatre, and some people have taken exception to his manner.’
A spokesman for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: ‘The settlement is on the express basis that the health board has not admitted liability in respect of any of Mr O’Keefe’s claims.
‘The health board considers this a very satisfactory outcome, saving considerable time and costs.’
‘I miss the surgery’