PAEDOPHILE hunters gathered outside Barnsley Hospital to protest against a doctor with a child porn conviction who has been working there.
Radiologist Philip McAndrew admitted possessing pornographic internet images of young children at a court appearance in his native Scotland in 1998.
He was fined £1,500 and had to leave his post at Kirkcaldy Hospital. The court was told he was not a risk to children and he was not placed on the sex offenders' register.
But in 2004 when the Chronicle covered the story, Dr McAndrew told the Chronicle that although he had admitted the offence in court, he did not download the images. Dr McAndrew has worked at Barnsley Hospital since 2001, and bosses were aware of his background when they employed him.
They stressed rigorous background checks were made before Dr McAndrew's employment including the use of external assessors and very thorough checks with the General Medical Council, the police and his previous employers.
Parents against Paedophiles, a Barnsley-run group which seeks out and confronts suspected paedophiles, held a protest outside the hospital's main entrance earlier this week. The founder of the group, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he was concerned the consultant had been working with children.
He said: "Doctors are people you are supposed to trust with your children's lives and they (the hospital) go around hiring people with convictions for downloading child sex images. You expect doctors are going to care for your children and are going to have a clean record."
A spokesman for Barnsley Hospital said: "We do not comment on individual members of staff, however, all NHS organisations are required to follow stringent recruitment processes and checks when recruiting medical personnel. These processes include communicating with the General Medical Council (GMC) which is the regulatory body for medical practitioners.
"We follow these processes and checks for the recruitment of all of our medical workforce."
Dr McAndrew is still employed at the hospital, but is not working at the moment. He also has eight conditions on his licence to practise, though the Chronicle understands they relate to a separate incident. These conditions include clinical supervision and informing the GMC of new employment.
He is barred from working as a locum and must inform employers of the conditions imposed on him. A spokesman for the GMC said: "We don't comment on individual cases but we can confirm the doctor's registration status. The doctor has a conditions on his practice for a matter that we continue to investigate. We cannot comment further."
Another protest has been planned by Parents Against Paedophiles at the hospital tomorrow (Saturday) at 11am.
