A DOCTOR has apologised to his former patients after being suspended for falsely diagnosing them with depression, obesity and kidney disease.

Dr Inigo Blasco was working at Rochford Medical Practice when he inappropriately amended records belonging to hundreds of his patients.

The Medical Practioners Tribunal found Dr Blasco had, without examining patients, changed medical records to show patients were suffering from chronic conditions, including asthma.

The tribunal heard this had been done because the surgery could earn extra income through its management of chronic conditions.

But Dr Blasco denied it was for financial gain, stating: “Had I done it for pure monetary interest, those monies would have been reclaimed a long time ago. This never happened.”

he issue only came to light after a patient made a formal complaint. This particular patient had issues with life insurance as medical records falsely recorded them as suffering from depression and being on anti-depressants.

The incident sparked an audit of the surgery’s patient records.

Now Dr Blasco has spoken out about the incident and offered his apologies to his former patients.

In a letter to the Echo, he said: “I entered patient data in bulk simply as an attempt to run the surgery smoothly and save time in doing so as there was so many patients to see.

“Looking retrospectively, the error was of procedure rather than inaccuracy, let alone dishonesty. I realised my procedure was not effective.

“Despite issues of diagnosis, none of my patients suffered any harm and the vast majority of the diagnoses were correct.

"I apologise for the inconvenience caused to patients until records were corrected.”

Dr Blasco’s medical licence was suspended for 12 months and will be subject to review before it is reinstated.

The surgery has since closed down.