Hertfordshire councillor and NHS surgeon cheated on medical exams

Councillor Dr Sunny Thusu, an oral surgeon, is a councillor on both Hertfordshire County Council and Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council.

A medical tribunal held last month found that his actions amounted to serious misconduct, but the panel chose not to take any action as he faced “extremely difficult personal and family circumstances” at the time of the incident. Councillor Thusu was elected as a Conservative councillor but Councillor Richard Roberts, Conservative leader of the county council, and Councillor Tony Kingsbury, leader of the Conservative group at the borough council, both said they have now withdrawn the whip from him.

Neither Conservative leader was aware of the tribunal until informed of it yesterday (9 January) by the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Councillor Thusu, who qualified in 2007, currently works as a surgeon at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

In June 2023, he sat two papers as part of the Intercollegiate Specialty Examination in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He was provided with an iPad during each paper to view images about the exam.

Immediately after the second exam, an invigilator raised concerns that Councillor Thusu had cheated, but he denied that he had been typing on the iPad. Later that month, however, Councillor Thusu admitted that he had used the iPad to make searches related to the exam questions, and that he had deleted the search history during the second exam.

The tribunal found he had made a “significant number” of searches during the day. It also noted he had made “earlier unsuccessful attempts to pass the examination”.

In its report, the tribunal said Councillor Thusu’s actions had “put patients at a potential risk of harm” and concluded his “fitness to practise is impaired”. They said he had “brought the medical profession into disrepute”.

But, despite the GMC (General Medical Council) arguing for Councillor Thusu to be temporarily suspended from his work as a surgeon, the tribunal opted to take no further action. It deemed that the issues in Councillor Thusu’s personal life amounted to the “exceptional circumstances” needed for them to take no further action.

Their report said: “A member of the public or profession, in full knowledge of the circumstances of this case, whilst not condoning the dishonesty would empathise with Dr Thusu, and the extraordinary difficulties he had faced”. Councillor Thusu had suffered a bereavement six months before the exam, and he was at the time signed off work for stress.

He described his personal life at the time as a “perfect storm” of difficult events, the details of which were mostly redacted from the tribunal’s public report. The tribunal found Councillor Thusu had shown “genuine” remorse for his actions and “taken considerable action to remediate his misconduct”, including taking ethics and standards courses.

In a statement to the tribunal, Councillor Thusu said: “My actions here compromised my ability to maintain the standards of professional knowledge required to care for patients safely. By cheating in an exam, I am distorting my abilities which leads to a compromise in clinical care which, in turn, causes harm to patients.

“By cheating to try to pass an exam that [colleagues] passed legitimately, I did not treat them with the respect that they deserve. Perhaps most seriously, cheating undermines the very foundation of the trust that patients, colleagues, and society place in doctors.”

Councillor Thusu admitted “he was in no proper state to take part in the examination and should have deferred it”. A senior doctor told the tribunal that Councillor Thusu was “honest and trustworthy” and said his actions had been “very out of character”.

The tribunal said Councillor Thusu could not have done “anything more … to remediate his conduct”. Its report said a suspension would be “unduly punitive”.

Councillor Thusu’s representative said he had shown “complete transparency” with his medical colleagues about his conduct. But Councillor Thusu did not tell his political colleagues about the tribunal.

Councillor Roberts told the LDRS that he had withdrawn the Conservative whip from Councillor Thusu as soon as he was made aware of the incident yesterday.

Councillor Roberts, who said he is “deeply disappointed” by the situation, said he has also referred the matter to the council’s standards committee. He continued: “When one is putting oneself forward to represent the great residents of Hertfordshire, there has to be a level of probity which is both seen and perceived to be seen.

“We need to be acting in the interests of our residents and I think the example here of effectively cheating in exams has undermined, for me personally and I think for my group, those really important issues of probity.”

Councillor Roberts said the fact he had not been made aware of the tribunal “brings the relationship of Sunny Thusu with me, with the Conservative group and the Conservative party into disrepute … that can’t be condoned”.

Councillor Kingsbury said: “Integrity is important as a councillor. What happened in the examination and that Councillor Thusu didn’t let us know in advance are both disappointing.

“The whip has been removed so that Sunny is no longer a member of the Conservative group on Welwyn Hatfield Borough council while we consider the situation.”

Councillor Thusu has represented Welwyn West ward on Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council since 2018, and Haldens division on Hertfordshire County Council since 2021. Councillor Thusu declined to comment.