A medical consultant who treated private patients at the Spire Gatwick Park Hospital in Horley, has been found to be “financially motivated” at a tribunal.

63-year-old Paul Miller now faces sanctions against his medical licence following an earlier ruling where he was found to act dishonestly, by not disclosing a financial interest.

Mr Miller, who was also a consultant at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, had referred five NHS patients and treated three private patients for Hifu ultrasound treatment at the private hospital, which rented the machine owned by Mr Miller’s company.

Catherine Cundy from the General Medical Council, which brought the case against Mr Miller, told the hearing he had “put his own interests above those of his patients”.

It’s estimated that the hearing is due to end today.

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A defendant in a terrorism trial has been taken to hospital and placed in an induced coma with Covid-19.

The trial of 48-year-old financial analyst Asad Bhatti from Redhill started at the Old Bailey last week.

Bhatti has denied making explosives, two counts of possessing explosives and two counts of possessing articles for terrorist purposes.

Yesterday the jury was discharged, and the case has been adjourned to next year.

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West Sussex Police are appealing for help with an investigation after a silver Mercedes collided with two parked vehicles and then drove away in Cowfold.

The incident happened on Station Road around 8.45pm on Sunday 5th December.

The Mercedes was later found abandoned near a farm.

Officers are keen to talk to a woman driving a small car who is understood to have picked up the Mercedes driver and given them a lift.

It is not believed the two were known to each other and they could be a useful witness to assist in identifying the driver.

If you are able to help the police with their enquiries you are asked to contact them on 101.

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Mole Valley Council has described plans for another runway at Gatwick ‘unacceptable’.

It says proposals to bring the airport’s Emergency Runway into routine use brings a number of environmental and resident wellbeing concerns.

You can read their statement below:

“We will be looking to Gatwick to provide improved and timelier engagement from this point forward, together with more detailed information being made available during future engagement exercises.”

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Almost 500 children and adolescents are waiting longer than they should for mental health treatment in Surrey, a hearing was told.

The longest wait for young people from referral is eight weeks.

The local trust blamed staffing issues, and said it received no applicants in a recent recruitment drive. A representative from The Surrey and Borders Partnership Foundation Trust told the hearing last week that it was recruiting again.

The staffing problems were highlighted in a prevention of future deaths hearing after the inquest into the death of Staines teenager Oskar Nash who took his own life last year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

When asked by a lawyer if the trust considered the backlog of cases a problem, Trudy Mills, director for children and family health, said: “Yes, we’re out for recruitment. We didn’t get any applicants so we went out again.”
Ms Mills added that the trust needs registered mental health nurses and social workers with child and adolescent mental health experience.

In September an NHS Digital survey found one in six children in England had a probable mental disorder in 2021 – similar to 2020, and up from one in nine in 2017.

Justine Leonard, an operational divisional director with the trust, said referrals had shot up to between 250 and 300 a week since the Covid-19 pandemic, around 60 to 100 more per week than in 2019.

The Trust said it has tripled its number of clinicians since then, from four to 12, and added that the backlog has reduced since 2019 by 80 per cent despite the increased number of referrals.

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