A HOSPITAL consultant suspended after raising a string of safety fears is appealing for damages, after the battle to clear his name left him with crippling legal bills.

Dr Ramon Niekrash represented himself at the Employment Appeals Tribunal in London this week because he can no longer afford a lawyer.

The consultant urological surgeon was left with £180,000 in court costs despite winning a 2010 employment tribunal against South London Healthcare Trust.

Dr Niekrash, formerly of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, argued his case is making others scared to raise safety issues because they could end up in the same mess.

He told the tribunal: “If the manner in which this works is such that an individual can be suspended then it actually says no individual can come forward again.”

The doctor said: “In attempting to silence and knowingly professionally damage a perceived critic, [the trust] was prepared to act in a high or heavy handed, oppressive and insulting manner.”

Dr Niekrash claims the massively in debt trust should have settled the dispute long ago, instead of shelling out vast amounts of taxpayers’ money on legal fees.

He told the tribunal how his eight-week suspension in 2008 came after he wrote a series of letters to managers complaining that ward closures and staff reductions were damaging patient care.

Dr Niekrash was later suspended, barred from the premises, had to collect personal items from the perimeter fence via his secretary and found himself blocked from the computer system, the tribunal heard.

It was told a clinical director at the hospital had said: “I’d just like him not to come back, I’d like him to be in chains on a plane back to Australia.”

The tribunal was adjourned to a later date.

A trust spokesman said: “We have consistently said that the former Queen Elizabeth Hospital trust had been wrong to suspend Mr Niekrash and our new trust, created after these incidents occurred, has publicly apologised to Mr Niekrash.

“We have also continually sought a mediation without having to use public resources on further legal proceedings."