A 'maverick' Oxford-educated doctor who refused a breath test after a drink-driving crash has been allowed to keep his job.
Dr Daniel Coventry, 35, was arrested after police suspected he was intoxicated behind the wheel when he smashed into the back of a stationary vehicle on his way to work on New Year's Day 2021.
The junior doctor refused to give a roadside breath sample and then declined a further test at the police station, claiming he could catch Covid if he blew into the bag.
He said: 'I felt this was a potential aerosol generating procedure, and as an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) doctor I am at a higher risk of carrying Covid.'
Coventry was subsequently convicted of failing to provide a sample of breath for analysis and was banned from driving for 12 months - but he will be allowed to continue working for the NHS.
In 2023, Coventry was suspended for six months after he was caught moonlighting at a private cosmetic surgery clinic whilst on sick leave from his £35k-a-year job at Worthing Hospital.
Coventry - once described as a 'maverick doctor' by the General Medical Council -was supposed to be off work with a suspected virus but instead he was offering facial fillers, thread facelifts and anti-wrinkle jabs at a Brighton clinic.
He was found guilty of gross misconduct, but was subsequently allowed back to the NHS in 2024 after apologising for his 'arrogant' and 'idiotic behaviour'.
Last month, Coventry was back before the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), where he admitted misconduct charges to his latest misdemeanour relating to drink driving.
He has been made the subject of seven conditions relating to him disclosing details of any future employment to the GMC over a period of 18 months.
The arrest took place on January 1 2021 after Coventry - who at the time was working at Eastbourne District Hospital as an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist - had spent the previous evening drinking wine to toast the New Year.
The hearing was told he drove into a line of stationary traffic and a PC who attended the scene smelt alcohol on Coventry's breath.
The officer asked the doctor to blow into a roadside breathalyser but he refused and was arrested and charged.
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust subsequently emailed the GMC on January 20 saying: 'Apparently on NY Eve the police rang to say he would not be able to work as he was in their cells. He crashed into the back of someone in his car, refused a roadside breath test and was arrested. He's charged with refusal'.
Dr Coventry then self-referred to the GMC on January 27 and stated: 'I need to let you know that I have been charged with the offence of not providing a breath sample at the site of a vehicle accident.'
'My reason for this is that there was no PPE, I felt this was a potential aerosol generating procedure, and as an ENT doctor I am at higher risk of carrying covid.'
'I offered a blood sample but I was not properly warned of the consequences of not providing (a breath sample). Instead I was left with the impression that a blood sample was to be taken. However, no-one came to take my blood.
'I was only properly informed some hours later that blood was not an option by the new sergeant, but by this time he was not willing to offer a blood test.'
He was subsequently dismissed from his post in May 2021.
The hearing was told Coventry maintained his innocence over the incident but was convicted in February 2022 of failing to cooperate with a roadside breath test and failing to provide a breath sample for analysis. He was also fined £865.
In his oral evidence to the MPTS, Coventry admitted drinking the day before going to work but said when he was asked to provide samples of breath he had 'legitimate concerns' about infection control because of the Covid pandemic.
He accepted that he could not rule out he was over the limit and confessed he had sought to 'frustrate' the taking of the breath sample in an 'inappropriate'.
He maintains he had always offered to give blood but now understood that was not his choice to make.
The hearing heard that Coventry, who studied medicine at Oxford after graduating with a first class degree in Biology at the University of Brighton, was still working at the private clinic.
MPTS chairman Michael Smith said: 'The Tribunal has taken into account part of Dr Coventry's motivations were connected to concerns about infection control, nevertheless, it concludes that, as he now admits, his conduct was designed to frustrate a lawful police request to test his breath alcohol levels.
'Dr Coventry admits that he had had at least one glass of wine, that he did collide with a stationary line of traffic and so the Tribunal is satisfied the officer who smelt intoxication liquor on Dr Coventry's breath was acting entirely appropriately in the pursuance of a legitimate police inquiry.
'Overall it appeared to the Tribunal that Dr Coventry deliberately refused to undertake a breath test due to the fact that he had consumed alcohol and had caused a car crash in the hope that offering a blood test would be advantageous to his circumstances.'