THE decision to appeal the suspension of a doctor convicted of gross negligence manslaughter of a six-year-old boy has “set patient safety in this country back by 30 years”, doctors said outside the Court of Appeal today.

Hadiza Bawa-Garba was struck off in January after the General Medical Council (GMC) decided to appeal the decision of its own tribunal that the junior paediatrician be suspended for a year.

Jack Adcock, who had Down’s Syndrome and a known heart condition, died at Leicester Royal Infirmary in 2011 after he developed sepsis, which went undetected until it was too late.