Millionaire GP pretended he was deaf

A millionaire doctor who pretended he was deaf so he could pocket a fortune from private patients while on NHS sick leave has been struck off.

Michael Hodges, 48, convinced health chiefs he was unfit to work, meaning locums were brought in to keep his GP practice afloat. But he was actually making thousands of pounds carrying out up to 16 private examinations each day. The "greedy" medic, who was earning ?250,000 a year, also claimed to have employed his wife as a receptionist, even though she rarely set foot in the surgery.

Hodges, who worked at Clayhall Clinic in Ilford, said mild deafness and tinnitus left him barely able to communicate with patients.

The surgery was left in the hands of locums, who were paid ?17,000 by the NHS to

cover for Hodges and keep open the 5,000-patient practice.

He used medical evidence from an ear specialist to convince bosses that he was unable to work, but made more than ?100,000 while off sick.

During the time Hodges claimed to be too ill to work he provided medical services to a range of firms including British Aerospace, the Ministry of Defence and Tesco.

Hodges was jailed for 12 months at Southwark Crown Court in July last year after being convicted of 12 counts of false accounting.

Over the weekend the father of two told a GMC disciplinary panel: "I am deeply, deeply ashamed of myself. I want to apologise to the GMC,

my colleagues, patients, staff friends and family. It was an aberration."

The doctor urged the conduct committee of the GMC not to strike him off so that he could carry on in private practice. But the panel found that his fitness to practise had been impaired.

The GMC panel said: "The panel is highly concerned about any act of dishonesty by a doctor and is particularly concerned about your acts of dishonesty, which were calculated, occurred over a sustained period and resulted in a custodial sentence."

The panel ruled it was in the public interest to erase Hodges's name from the register for the "serious abuse" of his position of trust.