A Bristol doctor who was found guilty of drinking and driving has been suspended from practicing for a year for failing to declare his conviction. Dr David Adams pleaded guilty at Bristol Magistrates' Court to driving two times over the legal alcohol limit in September 2019, and was sentenced to a fine of £440 and disqualified from holding or obtaining a drive licence for 17 months.
Adams worked as a doctor in Bristol from 2006 until 2014, but he has now been suspended for 12 months following a General Medical Council tribunal. The tribunal found that he had failed to declare this conviction when he applied to be restored to the medical register on December 17, 2019 after his name was struck off in 2015 when he stopped paying the annual fee.
It found that Adams was 'dishonest' in his failure to declare this, with the GMC only becoming aware of his conviction in April 2020 when an anonymous complainant came forward. Adams claimed in an email to the GMC on June 16, 2020, that he thought that he did not need to declare his conviction when filling out the application because drink-driving was not one of the 'listed offences' which the application form guidance said a prospective doctor should mention.
