Dr Rajesh Shah was suspended for 12 months
Dr Shah was a consultant thoracic surgeon at Wythenshawe Hospital(Image: Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust)
A top surgeon suspended after he was found to have sexually harassed a junior colleague will not be struck off.
Dr Rajesh Shah, a consultant thoracic surgeon at wythenshawe-hospital>Wythenshawe Hospital, ‘squeezed’ the woman’s bottom and ‘brushed his body against her breasts’ in two separate incidents, a tribunal heard.
The 61-year-old also admitted calling female colleagues ‘birds’ when he couldn’t remember their names, and asking staff to complete parts of his mandatory training for him.
In September last year, the Manchester Evening News told how Dr Shah was suspended for 12 months following a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing.
The General Medical Council appealed against the sanction, arguing that it was ‘insufficient to protect the public and confidence in the profession’. However, GMC’s appeal has now been rejected by the High Court.
Doctor ‘squeezed colleague’s buttock’
It was alleged that between 2005 and 2021 Dr Shah, who qualified at Bombay University in 1988, ‘behaved inappropriately’ towards two female colleagues, known as Colleague A and Colleague B, and that some of that behaviour ‘constituted sexual harassment’.
The tribunal found that the allegations made by one of the complainants were not proved.
It heard that on October 11, 2014, Dr Shah put his arm round Colleague B, and ‘steered her towards the coffee room’. There he gave her a hug and touched and squeezed her bottom.
On October 2, 2019, Dr Shah is said to have started a conversation with Colleague B, during which he ‘brushed his body against her breasts’ and ‘squeezed her right buttock’.
Several other allegations against Dr Shah, made by a different woman referred to as Colleague A, and spanning between 2005 and 2021, were found not proved.
They included claims that he masturbated in her presence, put his hands up her skirt, touched her genitals over her underwear, ‘rubbed his penis up and down her legs’ and touched her bottom and breasts while she was sat in his office.
Dr Shah had admitted conduct in relation to Colleague A, that he had called her a ‘good girl’ and referred to another female colleague as “bird”.
High Court judge says suspension was ‘not wrong’
GMC appeaed against the 12-month suspension.
But in his appeal judgement, Mr Justice Kerr said: “In relation to Colleague A, the misconduct was not found to be serious, albeit it was sexual harassment.
“In relation to Colleague B, the misconduct was serious but there were two episodes five years apart. I cannot view this case, as the GMC does, as one where there is a gap in the tribunal’s reasoning and an unexplained departure from an authoritative steer in the Sanctions Guidance.
“The decision was, in my judgment, not wrong or marred by any procedural or other irregularity. The tribunal examined the facts and the evidence in detail over 13 days. They directed themselves correctly on the law. They heard and assessed the arguments properly.
“They asked themselves the right questions and their answers were well within the bounds of reasonableness. The GMC’s criticisms are without force.”
After the hearing, Anthony Omo, General Counsel and Director of Fitness to Practise at the GMC said: “We note the High Court’s decision today to dismiss the GMC’s appeal against the Medical Practitioners Tribunal decision to impose a 12-month suspension on Dr Rajesh Shah having found his fitness to practise impaired.
“The GMC decided to exercise its powers to issue an appeal on the grounds that the original tribunal sanction was insufficient to protect the public and confidence in the profession.
“We are clear there should be zero tolerance of sexual misconduct. Our professional standards are clear that acting in a sexual way towards patients or colleagues is unacceptable.
“We have also produced support materials on our website to help doctors identify and tackle sexual misconduct.’