Doctors and sexual misconduct: some leaders still look the other way

Last week two reports were a reminder that sexual misconduct by doctors remains a serious problem. Last week two reports were a reminder that sexual misconduct by doctors remains a serious problem.

Report one. Almost a quarter (24%) of UK doctors found guilty of sexual misconduct were handed suspensions but allowed to continue working in medicine, according to a review of medical practitioner tribunals involving sexual misconduct https://publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/10.1308/rcsbull.2025.124 This is pretty remarkable considering the General Medical Council, only refers the most serious cases to The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) after the GMC has investigated complaints against doctors.

Report 2. “ For 13 years renowned transplant surgeon James gilbert sexual harassment many women colleagues in and around the operating theatre. The renowned specialist took advantage of his position as an educational supervisor to grope junior medics and bombard female trainees with sexual innuendo – including during surgery – at the prestigious Oxford Transplant Centre

“It was a constant game of cat and mouse,” says one of his victims, Ms G, now a consultant surgeon, who testified against him at a medical tribunal. “It was a systematic takedown and manipulation of vulnerable trainees. And it was in the context of operating – you were working to look after patients and this was what he was distracting us with.”

“Last year, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) ruled that Gilbert’s fitness to practise as a doctor was “impaired” after finding that he had touched women “inappropriately” without their consent and created “an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment” for female surgeons. The panel determined that his actions between 2009 and 2022 were “sexually motivated” and “an abuse” of his senior position. Yet the surgeon, who once described himself as the “golden boy” of the transplant unit, was only suspended for a year. This week he was eligible to start operating on patients” https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/hostile-degrading-offensive-women-demand-harsher-penalties-for-god-complex-surgeons

Sexual harassment is endemic within the NHS. NHS trusts recorded more than 35,000 cases of rape, sexual assault, harassment, stalking, and abusive remarks between 2017 and 2022, but only one in 10 trusts then had a dedicated policy to manage the problemexual assault, harassment, stalking, and abusive remarks between 2017 and 2022, but only one in 10 trusts then had a dedicated policy to manage the problem. https://www.bmj.com/content/381/bmj.p1105

Begeny et al (2023) revealed the extent of sexual misconduct by colleagues - including sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape - within the UK surgical workforce in the last five years and, analysed anonymous online survey responses from 1,434 participants (51.5% women) from the surgical workforce. They found that:

• two-thirds of women (63.3%) had been the target of sexual harassment from colleagues, along with almost a quarter of men (23.7%).

• the majority of participants (89.5% of women, 81% of men) said they have witnessed some form of sexual misconduct by colleagues.

• only 16% of those impacted by sexual misconduct made a formal report. https://academic.oup.com/bjs/article/110/11/1518/7264733?login=false

Surviving in Scrubs (2023) drew on a substantial (174) number of personal testimonies from doctors which the authors conclude evidence systematic and institutional sexism and sexual violence within healthcare in the healthcare workforce. The stories describe the significant power imbalance between powerful senior male staff perpetrating sexual violence to junior female staff members in healthcare, in a normalised culture of sexism, entitlement, and the devaluing of women staff;

• Perpetrators of sexual violence are described as being well known, acting within a culture of tolerance, while survivors struggle to raise concerns and face enduring impacts on their wellbeing and careers;

• Institutional sexism leads to survivors describing experiences of maternity and reproductive discrimination, reduced pay and lost training and career opportunities;

• Aspects of the environment unique to healthcare were reported in the stories with perpetrators using one on one clinical environments, clinical skills training and patient care as settings for sexual assault

These behaviours are not only damage those subjected to sexual misconduct but there is an impact on patient care as women healthcare workers reported their clinical judgements questioned, decisions not taken seriously, clinical requests being ignored, and referrals being refused. https://www.survivinginscrubs.co.uk/surviving-healthcare-report 

Too many perpetrators still not treated seriously

It is therefore quite remarkable what a review of medical practitioner tribunals involving sexual misconduct found. The study analysed 222 new MPTS tribunal cases between August 2023 and August 2024. It found that 11 cases out of the 46 proven cases of sexual misconduct identified the MPTS did not strike them off the medical register. All perpetrators were male doctors, with minge than 80% holding positions of authority with a number of the cases involved multiple targets with repeated and systemic abuse. https://publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/10.1308/rcsbull.2025.124

In a related paper, several recent high-profile MPTS cases that had “fuelled concerns about the consistency and adequacy” of sanctions. This included an tribunal earlier this year that found an acute medical consultant guilty of rape but handed him a 12-month suspension rather than striking him off, because it was deemed to be a “one-off event”.

Another doctor was found to have “pursued and groomed” a vulnerable patient from the age of 14 but was only suspended from the register for 12 months, with the tribunal panel citing evidence of “insight, remediation and remorse” as the reason he was not struck off.

The wheels of justice turn slowly. In February 2024, the General Medical Council (GMC) introduced an updated version of its Good Medical Practice document, incorporating specific guidance on sexual misconduct by doctors, and this study therefore offers a timely update on this important topic. Later the same year NHS England published its own sexual misconduct policy https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-england-sexual-misconduct-policy/

This was NHS England’s response to the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 which places a new duty of employers to take reasonable steps to protect them from sexual harassment as a new duty comes into force. Employers now have a duty to anticipate when sexual harassment may occur and take reasonable steps to prevent it. If sexual harassment has taken place, an employer should take action to stop it from happening again.

A likely further piece of legislation, the Employment Rights Bill contains a proposal is that any term in a contract banning an employee from making allegations or disclosing information relating to harassment or discrimination will be void - primarily directed at settlement agreements.  The ban relates not only to sexual harassment but to any alleged discriminatory conduct.  So, an allegation by an employee that they have not been promoted or have been marginalised at work because of a disability or their race (or any other protected characteristic) would be covered.

These steps have certainly raised the profile of sexual misc0onudct as a serious NHS problem.  It has being taking places for decades with those in authority largely looking the other way and protecting the culprits.

Progress will only be sustained, employers really are proactive and preventative, as the new duty requires them to be, rather than waiting for staff to raise concerns about toxic behaviours, often about more senior staff. Secondly, when staff do raise concerns they will want to know if the response will be supportive, timely, effective and protect them from victimisation as has happened in the past. As the latest research confirmed the majority of predators are in positions of higher authority that those they assaulted.  Let’s see if the combination of new policy and new legislation really makes a difference. The MTPS decisions suggest there is a long way to go both in understanding and tackling this issue.

These steps have certainly raised the profile of sexual misc0onudct as a serious NHS problem.  It has being taking places for decades with those in authority largely looking the other way and protecting the culprits.

Progress will only be sustained, employers really are proactive and preventative, as the new duty requires them to be, rather than waiting for staff to raise concerns about toxic behaviours, often about more senior staff. Secondly, when staff do raise concerns they will want to know if the response will be supportive, timely, effective and protect them from victimisation as has happened in the past. As the latest research confirmed the majority of predators are in positions of higher authority that those they assaulted.  Let’s see if the combination of new policy and new legislation really makes a difference. The MTPS decisions suggest there is a long way to go both in understanding and tackling this issue.