AN anaesthetist who is accused of sleeping while on duty at the Royal Bolton Hospital went on study leave to attend courses he never took, a hearing was told.

Dr Rajat Banerjee, who worked at the hospital in 2009, was booked in to go on a number of courses in 2006 while working at Whiston Hospital in St Helens.

He failed to attend and did not turn up to work for clinical duties, it is said.

Dr Banerjee’s failure to attend was discovered when a colleague booked on the same two-day course made inquiries about his absence.

He is also accused of falling asleep on duty twice within a week while working in Bolton along with other misconduct charges at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester. When asked about the course in Birmingham, Dr Banerjee is alleged to have said: “That course is normally a good course.” Dr Edmund Whelan, a consultant anaesthetist at Whiston hospital, noticed Dr Banerjee’s absence when he attended the seminars with another colleague.

He said: “I found myself in a bit of a difficult position and I wanted to be discreet about matters.

“I didn’t want to appear to be in a position where I was in any way persecuting or hounding him.”

Dr Banerjee’s work had been questioned while working at Whiston for leaving a patient he had anaesthetised to get a glass of water.

The patient started vomiting because of the inadequate anaesthesia, but suffered no long-term harm.

Dr Whelan told the hearing from then on he made sure Dr Banerjee was not in a position where he anaesthetised patients without supervision.

Dr Banerjee left Whiston Hospital following a compromise agreement in July, 2007.

But the doctor claims he was subjected to bullying and racial discrimination while employed by St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust, but was unable to discuss it because of a confidentiality clause. He also alleges that employees of the trust contacted hospitals where he worked after leaving Whiston to give negative references.

These allegations were denied by Dr Whelan.

Dr Banerjee worked at Mid Staffordshire, Stepping Hill and Harrogate hospitals before joining Royal Bolton Hospital in 2009.

The hearing continues.