A doctor who was suspended from the medical register last year for sexually and racially harassing junior colleagues could be working again within months.
Mr James Gilbert, a high profile transplant surgeon, was suspended for eight months by the Medical Practitioner’s Tribunal but the General Medical Council (GMC) launched an appeal arguing he should instead be erased from the medical register, which would ban him from working as a doctor.
On Thursday, high court judge Mr Justice Calver, granted the GMC’s appeal to overturn the tribunal decision, but ruled Mr Gilbert should have a 12-month suspension rather than be struck off.
The judge said he agreed with the tribunal’s decision that erasure from the medical register would be a “disproportionate” punishment.
It means Mr Gilbert will face a review panel at the end of the 12 months, in August, which will decide whether he is fit to practice. If it decides he is fit to practice then he will be free to work again.
Responding to the ruling, a GMC spokesperson said it would be reviewing the judgment “in close detail”.
“We argued that Mr Gilbert’s conduct was incompatible with continued registration and was all the more serious because he was in a senior position, as a consultant and trainer with responsibilities for surgical trainees. We are therefore disappointed that instead of substituting the suspension with erasure of the doctor from the medical register, as we argued for, it has been replaced with a 12-month suspension.”
The GMC added: “We thank the doctors who came forward to raise the serious concerns about Mr Gilbert with their employers, and who assisted us in our investigation. It is concerning that such behaviours went unchallenged for so long and a huge part of eradicating such unacceptable behaviour is making sure those who experience it feel supported to speak up and tell someone.”
In August 2024, Mr Gilbert was found to have sexually harassed four women and inappropriately touched three of them, while working at Oxford University Health Foundation Trust.
The original tribunal hearing heard a litany of alleged behaviour between 2009 and 2022, including allegations Mr Gilbert asked a trainee “’so are you a spurter? I can always tell which girls are the spurters’, or words to that effect.
He also allegedly said: “‘You’re a well put together girl, you must always wear matching underwear, correct? What kind are you wearing now?”
In another alleged incident he ran his hands up and down a junior colleague’s body without consent.
It was also alleged that when referencing the weight of a patient of Asian origin, Mr Gilbert told a colleague, “this is what happens if you eat chapatti’, or words to that effect.”
According to the High Court evidence, after Mr Gilbert was dismissed from Oxford University Hospitals, he carried out surgery and outpatient appointments at The New Foscote Hospital, under the NHS choose and book programme, which allows NHS patients to chose where they have a procedure.
He is also said to have undertaken shifts at Brighton & Sussex Hospital from August 2022 until January 2023.
From January 2023, Mr Gilbert was appointed to the role of Chief Medical Officer at The New Foscote & Royal Buckinghamshire Hospitals Group and continued to carry out NHS hernia surgeries.
Mr Gilbert said: “I accept the ruling of the High Court and the extension of the suspension. I continue to deeply regret the past mistakes I have made in my conversations and interactions with colleagues and my failures to perceive and understand the impact of my behaviour. I continue to use the period of suspension to reflect and remedy my behaviours to ensure that it never occurs again.”
An MPTS spokesperson said: "We always consider appeal judgments carefully for any learning points that can be used to improve future decision-making by MPTS tribunals."
The New Foscote & Royal Buckinghamshire Hospitals Group and University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust were approached for comment.
