Almost a quarter of doctors found guilty of sexual misconduct are allowed to continue practising after a period of suspension, a review has found.
Nearly 24% of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Services (MPTS) cases analysed ended in a suspension – instead of being struck off the medical register – despite the doctors being found guilty of sexual misconduct or accused of rape, sexual assault, harassment, or offences against children.
The findings risk “allowing rapists, sexual predators and those who use manipulation and coercion to return as practising doctors”, which “brings professional standards and public confidence into question”, the lead author of the research, consultant vascular surgeon Mei Nortley, said.
Professor Vivien Lees, vice president of the Royal College of Surgeons England (RCS), added that they “risk leaving perpetrators in power”.
The research was published in The Bulletin of the RCS and looked at 222 new MPTS cases between August 2023 and 2024.
Some 55 cases centred around sexual misconduct, with nine of the doctors found not guilty or not impaired to practice at tribunal.
Of the 46 remaining cases, the MPTS came to the same conclusion proposed by the doctors’ regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC).
However, in 11 cases, the GMC argued the doctors should be struck off – but the MPTS only gave them a suspension.
All 46 doctors were male, with almost 80% holding positions of authority.
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Surgeon engaged in non-consensual touching in theatre
The review comes after a separate paper in the British Medical Journal highlighted similar cases.
One reveals that earlier this year, an acute medical consultant was found guilty of rape but only given a 12-month suspension by the MPTS, with the tribunal panel deeming it was a “one-off event”.
Last year, a transplant surgeon was given an eight-month suspension after being found guilty of abusing his power by engaging in non-consensual touching during surgery.
In another case, a doctor who had a sexual relationship with a vulnerable patient he was found to have “pursued and groomed from the age of 14” was suspended for 12 months, with the tribunal panel claiming he had shown “insight, remediation and remorse”.
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In all of the cases, the GMC had called for the medics to be banned from practising.
Tamzin Cuming and Professor Carrie Newlands, from the working party on sexual misconduct in surgery, said: “Right now, the system gives little more than a slap on the wrist for abuse, when only erasure and accountability can ensure safety.”
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The GMC said it takes a “zero tolerance” approach to sexual misconduct.
“We will often ask for the doctor to be struck off the medical register. Where we feel the sanctions applied by the independent tribunal are too lenient – we can, and do appeal,” a statement added.
A spokesperson for the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service said: “We recognise the impact of our work and tribunal decisions on the lives of all those involved in our hearings.
“It is important that doctors have a fair hearing, that thoroughly assesses all the evidence presented by both the GMC and the doctor and that the tribunal comes to an impartial decision.
“We will soon publish a new suite of guidance for tribunals, covering all aspects of our hearings.”
