A DOCTOR blocked from practising after whistle-blowing on her colleagues is celebrating after being allowed to return to work.

Dr Sian Caiach said she would be cracking open the champagne following the result of a General Medical Council (GMC) hearing in London today.

The 52-year-old said she feared her case would stop others from speaking out against malpractice in the NHS.

During 2000, the Carmarthenshire county councillor had been an orthopaedic surgeon at Llanelli's Prince Philip Hospital until she raised concerns some colleagues were operating on private patients in NHS time and were using its resources.

Her suspicions were confirmed by the Audit Commission, but, in the meantime a colleague, had made a complaint about her clinical competence.

Dr Caiach, of Cwmbach, Carmarthenshire, said: "I'm happy about being able to practice. I am upset, because what has happened to me will put off a lot of people from making disclosures about things which are going wrong because they are afraid they will lose their career.

"It is very much a shoot the messenger culture in the NHS. I didn't kill anyone or harm anyone.

"All I did was complain about my colleagues."

The situation led her to be banned from all hospitals across the Hywel Dda Health Board region as a result of her disclosures.

She was barred after being told her presence might affect the mental health of the people she complained about.

Dr Caiach claimed a recent Freedom of Information Act request had shown there was no record of the ban ever having been made.

"The only thing I received about it was a letter from the personnel department," she said. "It has made my life very difficult.

"I've had to get written permission to enter hospitals and have even been denied access to my relatives.

"It has also affected my ability to support my constituents (as a county councillor for Carmarthenshire) as meetings are often held in trust properties."

The mum-of-four was suspended by the GMC back in 2006 for "deficient performance" and has been fighting to be reinstated on the medical register ever since.

Dr Caiach, who is now in training to become a prison doctor, said she hoped the ban would be lifted in light of the GMC's decision to restore her name.

She was told she would be subject to 14 conditions which include she must be mentored, complete a personal development plan, inform the GMC of any job she accepts in the UK or abroad and she must confine her practice to that of a forensic physician.

The conditions will remain in place for a year, at which stage her case will again be reviewed.

She broke down in tears as she said: "I do feel I can now look to the future, to working as a doctor again and living a normal life.

"I think I'm going to be cracking open the champagne."

GMC chairwoman Dr Linda Buchanan told the hearing the panel were satisfied this sanction would protect the public while allowing the doctor to return to work.

She said: "Your fitness to practise was found impaired due to the deficiencies in your performance as an orthopaedic surgeon. You have told the panel you accept the findings of the GMC performance assessment but you longer wish to continue your career in this speciality and you would like to pursue a career as a forensic physician."