\u2018We don\u2019t have confidence in the current system\u2019<\/p>\n
Tim Mitchell, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said the figures \u201cdon\u2019t paint a pretty picture\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s clear from the continuing cases, which sadly appear much more frequently than we would like to see, that this is a continuing problem that needs to be dealt with.\u201d He called for an overhaul of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), which appoint panels of three lay people, including at least one medical professional, to adjudicate on cases and set sanctions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have confidence in the current system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Figures obtained by The Sunday Times show hundreds of sexual misconduct claims are being raised by NHS trusts about specific staff. NHS Resolution, a service which handles legal claims against the NHS, saw a 72 per cent rise from 143 in 2015-16 to 246 in 2024-25.<\/p>\n
In total, over the past decade, across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man, NHS Resolution recorded 900 reports of inappropriate sexual behaviour including flirting and unwanted advances by doctors, and 648 specific acts of touching, kissing or rape.<\/p>\n
Separately, independent research published in the Royal College of Surgeons bulletin journal found there had been 55 allegations of sexual misconduct brought against doctors by the GMC between August 2023 and August 2024. There were 46 proven, but of these only 16 doctors received a suspension. In 11 cases doctors were allowed to return to work even though the GMC had recommended they be struck off.<\/p>\n
Relationship with teenager<\/p>\n
![\"Black](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2804192a-ca79-4412-b2ff-2286bc5430ec.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
When Patient A was 13, Dr Cian Hughes appeared at her hospital bedside.<\/p>\n
He was charming and seemed particularly interested in her care. She was impressionable ,suffered with a neurological condition and relied on a wheelchair.<\/p>\n
That night he sent her a private email with her x-ray scans after accessing NHS data inappropriately. It was the start of a private relationship.<\/p>\n
Hughes, nine years older than Patient A (who we are not naming for legal reasons), became a trusted confidant over the coming years, texting her regularly.<\/p>\n
They went to his flat and when she was 17 he kissed her, before they moved on to other sexual activity.<\/p>\n
At one point his friend warned him: \u201cThree letters Cian: GMC\u201d, but he continued the relationship.
Days after her 18th birthday in 2015 she says she was put under pressure by him and they had sex. Within weeks he ended the relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy virginity was a target and that was all it was,\u201d says the woman, now in her late twenties. \u201cHe was the first to make it sexual, the first to ask me out. Every single escalation point was started by him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Realising she may have been the victim of abuse, she complained to the GMC. She also went to the police, but the case was dropped.<\/p>\n
After a six-year investigation an independent tribunal concluded that Hughes had used his position to pursue an improper sexual relationship with her when he knew she was vulnerable and that she was just a teenager.<\/p>\n
The GMC argued that Hughes should be struck off. But the tribunal gave him credit for undertaking training courses and apologising to his victim and decided striking him off would be disproportionate. It decided Hughes should be suspended for 12 months and allowed back to work once he passed a required review. The victim, Patient A, was appalled.<\/p>\n
\u2018Process made the trauma even worse\u2019<\/p>\n
The woman said: \u201cI don\u2019t see how they can say that they care about victims. He was given bonus points for apologising, even though I wasn\u2019t in court at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had known just how bad the [the process] was going to be, I don\u2019t think I would have reported him, not because I don\u2019t think what he did was wrong, but because the process made the trauma even worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA), an independent regulator, agrees. It has called Hughes\u2019s penalty \u201cinsufficient to protect the public\u201d and begun High Court action to get him struck off.<\/p>\n
Hughes is now working as chief scientific officer for the AI medical firm Counsel Health. A lawyer for Hughes said that he could not comment due to the pending court judgment.<\/p>\n
When a patient or colleague has a concern about a doctor they can raise it with the GMC, which investigates the case. If it believes the doctor has a case to answer the issue is referred to the MPTS.<\/p>\n
Both the GMC and MPTS process exist in law to protect the public from unfit doctors. This is the guiding principle of the legislation in the Medical Act 1983.<\/p>\n
When NHS trusts have serious concerns about a doctor\u2019s behaviour or clinical practice, such as sexual misconduct, they can seek advice from NHS Resolution, which will also handle any subsequent legal case and pay compensation.<\/p>\n
Mitchell, from the Royal College of Surgeons, said tribunal panels were weighing public protection as more serious than attacks on staff or other non-patients.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI think it\u2019s likely that there may be cases in which they haven\u2019t given them sufficient weight and that particularly the issue about sexual misconduct directed at colleagues and staff needs to be looked at in more detail.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b985acf4-8fc4-4231-a9a8-cd205da23efb.jpg\")
James Gilbert<\/p>\n