HC Deb 20 November 1990 vol 181 c68W
Mr. Chris Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the reason for the removal of Dr. Adam Lawrence from his post as medical consultant to Her Majesty's prison, Wandsworth.

Mrs. Rumbold

Dr. Lawrence, a consultant physician specialising in genito-urinary medicine, was invited in April this year to visit Wandsworth prison once a week to advise on patient care within his specialty. This was a local arrangment instituted by the then senior medical officer. Dr. Lawrence recently took part in a television programme in which he disclosed clinical details relating to a former Wandsworth prisoner with whose treatment he himself had been concerned, and criticised clinical decisions by a medical colleage. The senior medical officer considered that these actions were not conducive to harmonious working relations within the health care team and informed Dr. Lawrence that he had decided to make other arrangements for the provision of specialist advice. The director of prison medical services fully supports the action taken.