A WANSTEAD widower has hit out at a decision to lift all restrictions imposed on a doctor who wrongly gave the all-clear to his wife and 17 other women with breast cancer.

After a two day hearing the General Medical Council (GMC) decided that Dr Kong Fa Lan Keng Lun, the former lead clinician at the breast unit of St Margaret's Hospital, in Epping, should have a supervision order banning him from taking any management roles lifted.

A GMC verdict back in 2007 said Dr Lun had committed “wide ranging and serious” errors after failing to spot the disease in the women during his time at the unit between March 2003 and November 2004.

Following the discovery, 5,765 of his cases had to be reviewed and a GMC expert medical witness said Dr Lun's performance had fallen “below the standard to be expected of a consultant radiologist.”

But a hearing this week found that Dr Lun has since passed all his assessments and should be free to practise unimpaired.

Aubrey Nathan's wife Frances died of cancer last November after previously being told she had nothing to worry about despite discovering a lump on her breast.

He said: “It's disgraceful. Of course Dr Lun should have been struck off and these restrictions should not have been lifted.

“It wasn't just my wife who he misdiagnosed but many other women too.

“But with these doctors and associations they just seem to rub each other's backs when things go wrong.

Mr Nathan, 79, of Gardener Close, added: “I'm very sorry to hear it. It makes me feel quite helpless because what can I do or say now? There's not much I can do about it.”

Dr Lun is now employed at Ipswich Hospital and his old employer, Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust in Harlow, has said it has no indication he will come back to West Essex.

A spokesman said: “We are fully up to capacity and we are not seeking any further staff on the unit.”