Patients recalled: who is Dr Michael Watt?

Now Dr Michael Watt’s entire current patient list comprising 2,500 people will be reviewed as the probe into the consultant’s care widens.

Trust recalls 2,500 patients as probe into doctor widens

Dr Watt is an NI-born neurological consultant and has been practising in Belfast’s Royal Victoria and City hospitals for over two decades.

In his mid-50s, Dr Watt also treated patients at a private practice.

Up until June 2017 he would have treated patients for a range of complex neurological conditions including MS, epilepsy, and strokes.

Asked if Belfast Trust was aware of any health conditions which may have led to a deterioration in Dr Watt’s work, Dr Mitchelson, medical chair of division, said: “There is no suggestion that Dr Watt was impaired through physical or mental ill health.”

Nor did he say Dr Watt had acted in an “untoward manner”.

The senior consultant said: “He was almost universally loved by his patients and always was trying to work hard to do his best by his patients.

“Unfortunately no healthcare system is without risk and occasionally individual practitioners’ performance can dip.”