Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service determination — substantive hearing
Formally warned
The regulator’s term: warning
What does “formally warned” mean?
A formal warning is a note on the practitioner's record. It does not restrict practice but tells the public that the regulator considered the conduct to have fallen below expected standards.
Concerning Ufunwen Osayi, doctor (General Medical Council 4229962).
Decision date: 11 March 2026 · Hearing started 2 March 2026 and ended 11 March 2026
In plain English
The MPTS tribunal found that Dr Ufunwen Osayi's fitness to practise is not currently impaired, but issued him a warning. Dr Osayi, a Consultant Histopathologist at Basildon Hospital, admitted serious failings in three coronial post-mortem examinations carried out in 2023, including not following professional guidelines, insufficient sampling, and giving incorrect causes of death. The tribunal accepted he had developed insight, undertaken extensive remediation and changed his practice, but a warning was needed to mark the seriousness of the past errors.
Charges
Dr Osayi, a Consultant Histopathologist and Cytopathologist at Basildon University Hospital, admitted in full a series of allegations relating to coronial post-mortem examinations of three patients (A, B and C) carried out between July and October 2023. In Patient A: providing a post-mortem report whose description of the brain wrongly implied the cerebral hemispheres, mid brain, brain stem and cerebellum had been sectioned; misinterpreting toxicology results; failing to follow Royal College of Pathologists' guidelines for deaths in patients with epilepsy; and an incorrect cause-of-death formulation. In Patient B: failure to take adequate clinical history into account, insufficient histopathological sampling, no microbiology/virology investigations, no retention of heart for cardiac pathologist or spleen for genetic analysis, no input sought from paediatric or cardiac pathologists, an incorrect cause of death and inappropriate evidence to the Coroner. In Patient C: inadequate sampling and retention of the heart and spleen, and a cause of death not supported by the evidence.
Findings
The Tribunal found Dr Osayi's fitness to practise is not currently impaired by reason of misconduct, but issued a warning. Dr Osayi admitted the entirety of the Allegation. The Tribunal accepted that he had developed insight following a 2025 forensic medical autopsy course, made a self-referral to the GMC, undertaken substantial CPD and reflective work, and demonstrated changes in his current practice including reduced post-mortem workload and improved documentation. It was satisfied his clinical errors had been remediated such that the risk of repetition was low, but considered a warning was necessary to mark the seriousness of the past failings.
Source
All facts on this page are drawn from the publicly published Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service determination linked below. MedicWatch does not editorialise the regulator’s findings.
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