A CANCER surgeon working at two of Worcestershire’s major hospitals who has been under investigation for more than two years has been fired.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust announced this morning colorectral cancer surgeon Sudip Sarker had been dismissed from his role.

Mr Sarker has been excluded from working at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital since October 2012 following concerns about the amount of patients under his care who had died and an investigation into him was launched in 2013.

His public record with the General Medical Council also shows he has had conditions placed on his licence since February 2013 and has been ‘interim suspended’ since January 2014.

His dismissal was announced in a short press release posted on the trust’s website by acting chief executive Chris Tidman yesterday morning.

“Mr Sudip Sarker has been dismissed from his position as a consultant colorectal surgeon with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust,” he said.

“I do hope that the dismissal provides assurance that the trust will take whatever action is necessary so as to protect patient safety.

“In the meantime, Mr Sarker continues to be investigated by both the police and the General Medical Council.”

Both West Mercia Police and the GMC confirmed investigations into Mr Sarker, who began working for the trust in August 2011 specialising in colon and bowel cancer treatment with keyhole surgery, were ongoing but declined to comment further.

Specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, which represents many of the patients treated by Mr Sarker, Hannah Wallace welcomed the announcement.

“Our clients are relieved at the latest developments and we hope that it will begin to restore confidence that lessons are being learnt from what happened,” she said.

“We are also assisting the police and the GMC with their investigations and hope that these will be concluded as quickly as possible.

“Improving patient safety has to be the ultimate priority throughout all of this activity.”

Among conditions placed on Mr Sarker’s registration were that his work had to be supervised by another consultant.

He was also forbidden from undertaking locum or temporary posts lasting less than 12 weeks or any on-call duties and required to inform all employers of the conditions placed on his licence.

As well as working at the Royal and the Alex Mr Sarker is also believed to have performed work for private hospitals.

His record – which is publicly available at www.gmc-uk.org by searching for reference 3617342 – shows he gained his primary medical qualification from the University of Glasgow in 1991, became fully registered as a doctor in February 1993 and was first registered as a surgeon in December 2009.