Tribunal strikes off consultant who sexually assaulted junior colleague

A CONSULTANT in emergency medicine who worked at hospitals in Grimsby and Scunthorpe has been struck off, after being convicted of sexually assaulting a colleague while at work.

Dr Shuja Syed was given a suspended jail sentence in May 2021 and put on the sex offenders register for seven years.

The doctor was suspended by the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust following his conviction.

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The decision to strike him off the register was made on Tuesday following a virtual hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.

Dr Syed was practising as a senior doctor at Scunthorpe Hospital when the incident happened in June 2019  Picture: Google MapsDr Syed was practising as a senior doctor at Scunthorpe Hospital when the incident happened in June 2019  Picture: Google Maps
Dr Syed was practising as a senior doctor at Scunthorpe Hospital when the incident happened in June 2019 Picture: Google Maps

The incident happened on June 12 2019 when the female colleague went to Dr Syed’s room - then working as a senior doctor at Scunthorpe Hospital - to discuss travel arrangements to an event at another hospital.

Alan Taylor, representing the General Medical Council, told the hearing it was an “abuse of position and an imbalance of power over a more junior female colleague”.

He said Dr Syed had denied any guilt at the criminal trial and the complainant had been forced to go through the stress of a court case.

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The Judge in the case, Mr Taylor said, had described the doctor as “culpably dishonest” and “manipulative”.

In its findings the tribunal noted that when the doctor gave evidence he “accepted that he had acted without her consent and it amounted to a sexual assault”. The doctor had also described his own behaviour at the time as “disgusting and grotesque”.

Dr Syed’s legal representative Chris Pataky argued that a 12 months suspension was appropriate, there was no risk to public nor patient safety and the doctor had shown “considerable remorse and shame” for his actions. There had been “numerous positive testimonials” from colleagues.

However a report by the tribunal’s chair Lee Davies said the doctor had shown “limited” insight and the conviction was a serious criminal offence which had major repercussions for his colleague. It said: “The tribunal considered that Dr Syed abused his position, as a senior doctor, over colleague A and that his sexual offence took place within the workplace.

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“Dr Syed had breached colleague A’s trust in him, where they previously had a good working relationship.”

It concluded that the decision to strike him off the medical register was necessary to “maintain public confidence in the medical profession and to promote and maintain proper professional standards and conduct for members of the profession”.

The hospital trust confirmed the doctor had been dismissed and no longer worked for them.

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