BOSSES at Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital say they have no concerns for patients treated there by a ‘bogus’ doctor.

They say Levon Mkhitarian, who worked in surgery and medicine across the hospital for nine months, was supervised at all times after being employed through an agency.

And once concerns were raised about his competence he was referred to the General Medical Council.

They say he was employed totally legally at Musgrove.

Mkhitarian, 36, originally from Georgia, last week pleaded guilty to 22 counts of deception, fraud and visa offences at Canterbury Crown Court, where he will be sentenced next month.

It is believed he had studied medicine abroad before being hired by Musgrove in December 2010 under the condition he worked as a trainee under close supervision by a senior doctor.

A spokeswoman for Musgrove, which he left in August 2011, said: “Concerns were raised around his practice and he was referred to the GMC.

“Given the level of supervision and support all our trainee doctors receive, and the fact that concerns around the competency of this individual were picked up and swiftly acted upon, we are confident that no patient was adversely affected during this person’s employment at the hospital.”

It was made clear to Mkhitarian when he took up the post that his time at Musgrove would not count towards his doctor’s training.

He was struck off by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service’s register last year after taking senior roles at a number of hospitals despite not having the necessary qualifications – they accused him of “a reckless disregard for the principles of good medical practice”.

Mkhitarian was finally caught in April last year when he applied for a staff pass at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, in Kent, under someone else’s name, which triggered a warning that the name was already registered.

When challenged he claimed he was visiting his father in the hospital, but checks show there was no such patient there.

Reflecting on the case, Peter Walsh, from patient charity Action Against Medical Accidents, said: “This individual has gone to extraordinary lengths to deceive, but there are serious questions to be answered about how this was allowed to happen.

“Any NHS trust should make adequate checks to ensure that the locum doctors they take on are suitably registered and qualified. They should not rely on agencies.”