A transplant surgeon found to have sexually harassed four colleagues has been suspended for eight months.
Three of the women James Gilbert, 47, harassed were trainees at the Oxford Transplant Centre, a medical tribunal heard.
One woman said she had not felt she was in a “position of equal power” to speak out when Gilbert tickled her and massaged her shoulders without consent.
She said he was seen as the “golden boy” of the department and the “be-all and end-all for transplants in Oxford”.
Another former trainee complained formally to Oxford University Hospitals NHS foundation trust in 2014 that she was being sexually harassed by the consultant but said it was “swiftly swept under the carpet” by bosses.
The trust “excluded” Gilbert from working in May 2021 after concerns were raised about inappropriate comments and conduct towards staff, but he was allowed to return to work six weeks later with restrictions on his practice.
A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel was told that an email was then sent to 46 current and former surgical trainees in the department, which invited them to contact a “freedom to speak up guardian” if they wished to flag up any concerns.
An investigation by the trust followed and Gilbert was dismissed in May 2022 as the matter was referred to the General Medical Council (GMC).
Last month the GMC outlined a catalogue of alleged inappropriate behaviour by Gilbert on various dates between 2009 and 2022. He denied it all.
This week the MPTS panel ruled that Gilbert had sexually harassed four women and inappropriately touched three of them. He was also found to have made inappropriate sexual comments and racist remarks, and to have abused his more senior position in the department.
During one operation he allegedly said to a trainee: “So are you a spurter? I can always tell which girls are spurters”.
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On another occasion he was found to have said to her: “You’re a well together girl, you must always wear matching underwear,” and followed up with: “What kind are you wearing now?”
The panel, sitting in Manchester, also ruled that during a ward round Gilbert said: “You know how Africans clean themselves once they’ve gone to the toilet? They just use their hands, no wonder they always get infections.”
Finding that Gilbert’s fitness to practise was impaired because of misconduct, the tribunal chair, Andrew Mcloughlin, said: “In all the circumstances, the tribunal determined that a period of eight months was sufficient and appropriate to mark the serious misconduct found.”
Gilbert, who is the chief medical officer overseeing the New Foscote hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and the Royal Buckinghamshire hospital in Aylesbury, has 28 days to appeal against the suspension. He also carries out NHS hernia waiting list clinics and surgeries.
Source: theguardian.com
