Alex Mullen of QEB Hollis Whiteman appeared on behalf of the Health and Care Professions Council hearing the case of Ian Hardman, a radiographer, who was struck off the register.
The allegation against Mr Hardman concerned his use of a mobile CT scanner on 20 December 2023, at which time, during a 33-minute period early in the morning, he rendered six CT scans on 'soft tissue' settings, effectively allowing him to generate naked photographs of previously-scanned patients.
The renderings were only discovered by chance when the machine was used by his colleague some time later. Mr Hardman was identified as the maker of the images by comparing metadata to work rotas.
Mr Hardman had accepted generating the images in this way but sought to tell the hearing, through written submissions, that this was done for an educational purpose.
The Panel, having heard Alex's submissions, agreed that there was no clinical justification for generating the images. They further rejected the Registrant's position as to the purpose for their generation in finding that his conduct had been sexually motivated, stating he "...was rushing to create the scan images which best suited his sexual proclivities."
The Panel found that the conduct was very serious, and that the only appropriate sanction was one of strike off.
The case has featured in the national press:
The full Decision is available on the HCPTS website here.
Alex Mullen