A heart surgeon dismissed from a Cardiff hospital for bullying has rejoined the NHS as a neurologist in Bristol. Dr Peter O'Keefe was sacked from his role at the University Hospital of Wales in 2015 after an independent panel found he had bullied and harassed 26 colleagues.
Dr O'Keefe, who is aged around 57, spent time as an Uber driver but since 2020 he has been working at Southmead Hospital in north Bristol. A parent of one of his former Southmead patients described him as having a "Jekyll and Hyde personality", adding: "One minute he can be nice to you. However in my experience if you question him he can be particularly unpleasant."
The parent alleged to WalesOnline that Dr O'Keefe came across as "dismissive" and that he spoke in an "unprofessional manner". They also claimed a nurse at Southmead had confided in them that Dr O'Keefe was "arrogant" and "talked down" to a nurse.
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When a patient's family complained to the North Bristol NHS trust that Dr O'Keefe was working at Southmead despite having been fired by another hospital it replied that "no gross misconduct was proven". But Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said an independent appeal had found his behaviour "amounted to gross misconduct" and that dismissal was the "appropriate sanction".
In response to the complaint the North Bristol trust said the manager who did Dr O'Keefe's appraisals did not have "concerns about his manner". Dr O'Keefe, who works in the neurosciences division, is on the General Medical Council register and "due process was followed in his appointment", a trust spokesman told WalesOnline.
Dr O'Keefe, from Radyr, was suspended from the University Hospital of Wales in 2012 and was paid £95,000 a year for three years on gardening leave. He was dismissed in August 2015 after an independent inquiry found he had bullied colleagues over a 10-year period.
He then tried to sue Cardiff and Vale University Health Board for unfair dismissal, claiming he was sacked after blowing the whistle on unsafe hospital care. But his employment tribunal was called off in 2017 after he accepted an undisclosed cash settlement. It later emerged the health board had spent £238,000 on legal work for the case.
At the time of the settlement Dr O'Keefe said he was "relieved" the case had come to an end, telling the BBC: "It's a bittersweet outcome for me. It's an enormous relief not to have the pressure on me any more but this has gone on so long and I can't go back to medicine. I've tried to get work but I'm the wrong side of 50. I came to the conclusion that the best thing was to give myself a job so I've become an Uber driver and I'm loving it."
A spokeswoman for the health board said at the time the settlement was agreed in order to save costs. "The settlement which has now been reached in the tribunal proceedings is on the express basis that the health board has not admitted any liability in respect of any of Mr O'Keefe's claims. Instead the settlement was reached on the basis of the saving to the health board of both legal costs and clinical/management time which would otherwise have been incurred during the employment tribunal hearing."
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