A tribunal investigating a GP accused of taking £100,000 from an NHS funded out-of-hours service and ignoring over a hundred out-of-hours calls will not be fully resolved for another nine months.

Dr Ravi Sondhi is accused of misconduct at a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing, which began in Manchester in June.

The investigation into the 52-year-old's conduct stalled after a panel member was forced to step down, but a new panellist was appointed with evidence resuming at the hearing last Wednesday.

But the delay has caused the hearing to overrun and the tribunal will reconvene on dates in November and next January, before finishing in March 2014.

Dr Sondhi allegedly abused his position as financial director of Croydon, which was set up in 1995 to treat almost 1m patients in Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton.

It is also alleged he was often uncontactable at his home 125 miles away in Fakenham, Norfolk, when he was supposed to be on duty, forcing patients to go to Accident and Emergency.

Dr Sondhi denies misconduct, but could be struck off the medical register if found guilty.