NHS can hire child porn doctors

Five doctors convicted of downloading child porn are free to work for the NHS, it emerged today.

The revelations come weeks after Health Secretary John Reid announced a review of the way doctors are regulated. Child protection charity Kidscape said: "The doctorpatient relationship is based on trust. When someone violates that they should be punished."

One of the doctors is surgeon Christopher Lattimer, 41, who worked at Margate's Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital. He was suspended after downloading child porn while drunk.

Given a community order, he was reinstated in September provided he agreed to psychiatric supervision and random testing for alcohol. He is appealing to get the conditions changed, saying they are making it difficult for him to find work.