The doctors banned from practising abroad cleared to treat in NHS

he health secretary has ordered an urgent review of vetting procedures for foreign qualified doctors after a Times investigation exposed how medics banned from practising overseas have been cleared to treat NHS patients.

Wes Streeting described the findings as “horrific” and “a serious failure in our medical regulatory systems that I will not tolerate”.

One doctor was fired when The Times approached their employer with its revelations, and another is under suspension.

Sujan Thyagaraj, a psychiatrist employed by a Bradford NHS trust, lost his US medical licence for having sex with a patient. Sattar Kadhem, a radiologist, lost his Swedish and Norwegian medical licences for misreading scans.

Despite this, both were granted the right to practise in the UK.

They were among 22 doctors identified by The Times who have been subject to discipline or restrictions overseas but with no record of it showing on their General Medical Council (GMC) licences.

In each case the GMC had either failed to spot the overseas findings — despite in some cases this information being public record — or it did not think the information should be available to patients.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Times, 2 October 2025