A surgeon who pressed on with an operation even though his patient was conscious has been hauled before watchdogs for continuing to operate unsupervised.

Tough restrictions were imposed on Nalini Senchaudhuri in 2001 after a series of disastrous errors during routine surgery.

The General Medical Council (GMC) found Senchaudhuri, in his late 50s, guilty of misconduct in September 2001 after hearing of the blunders at hospitals in Bristol and Bishop Auckland, Durham.

He was allowed to continue practising but was ordered not to carry out surgery unsupervised and to notify future employers of the condition.

But a tribunal yesterday heard how Senchaudhuri had breached both the restrictions. It was claimed he has operated on several patients without supervision while working as a locum at Hillingdon Hospital, in Uxbridge, Middlesex.

The committee was told he had kept senior managers in the dark about his past.

Senchaudhuri has also been working at a hospital in York, where concerns were allegedly raised over his clinical skills. One consultant even refused to work with him, the hearing was told.

Senchaudhuri, representing himself, dismissed the claims as "absolute rubbish and wrong".

At the original hearing, he was found guilty of carrying out inadequate and inappropriate surgery on two patients, and performing an inadequate operation on the third.

The GMC ordered him to work under the conditions until March this year.

Yesterday's hearing to consider whether to lift the ban has now been adjourned to give the doctor more time to prepare his case.

Senchaudhuri, of south west London, was ordered to reappear before the committee on Monday, February 17.

Val Bryden, chief executive of South Durham and Weardale Community Health Council, said: "While this is very worrying for patients at least it shows that the General Medical Council is being more effective in enforcing restrictions."

* A separate GMC hearing into allegations against Newcastle consultant gynecologist Nazar Najib Jarmonos Amso is due to begin on January 22 in London. It is alleged that Mr Amso carried out a procedure during an operation without the patient's consent and contrary to the patient's interests.