A RESPECTED hospital consultant is facing allegations that he cheated in a bid to gain a new qualification.

Dr Gordon Shepard, who works at the Royal Bolton Hospital and BMI Beaumont Hospital, Bolton, is accused of plagiarism.

The consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon is facing a General Medical Council (GMC) hearing.

It comes as a result of allegations that he submitted assignments which used work previously submitted by another student.

Dr Shepard is accused of committing the offences while he was studying to obtain a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education.

He is alleged to have copied another student’s work between November 2009 and March 2010, while he was signed up to a distance learning course with the Centre of Medical Education at the University of Dundee, Scotland.

A GMC fitness to practice hearing started yesterday to look at the claims.

So far Dr Shepard has admitted, and the panel has proved, that he submitted 12 assignments during the course and used plagiarised work in eight of them. They included work that had previously been submitted by another student.

The hearing will now go through each charge in turn to investigate them further. It continues today and is expected to last until the end of the week.