Doctor found guilty of sexual misconduct with teenage patient cleared to return to practise

A doctor found guilty of “serious sexual misconduct” after he began a relationship with a vulnerable patient who was 13 when they first met has been cleared to return to practise medicine in the NHS.

Cian Hughes was suspended for a year last June after a medical tribunal concluded that his fitness to practise as a doctor was “impaired”. The panel determined that he sent “inappropriate” messages to the young woman, known as Patient A, throughout her teenage years and “used his professional position to pursue an improper emotional relationship” with her.

Hughes, who is nine years older than Patient A, admitted to beginning a sexual relationship with her when she was 17. The tribunal found that the age gap “created an imbalance of power in the relationship” that must have left the younger woman “feeling pressured”. Patient A also uses a wheelchair.

But Hughes was not struck off and last week a tribunal determined that he could go back to treating patients after the 12-month suspension expires in July. The panel ruled that he had demonstrated “genuine remorse, insight and remediation in relation to his misconduct” and that the risk of repetition was low.

The case raises questions about the effectiveness of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) and the General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates doctors.

Patient A described the decision to allow Hughes to return to practise as “devastating”. She said the tribunal system had exacerbated her original trauma and the GMC was “actively victim hostile”.

“The outcome of this process was never going to change the brutal reality or inherent wrongness of Dr Hughes’ actions, but it was always going to set a precedent as to the appropriate sanction for sexual misconduct with a vulnerable, disabled child,” she said. “Unless they are reformed the GMC and the MPTS will continue to fall short of what society deserves, blame and traumatise victims, and betray patients and the medical profession.”

The government is currently consulting on sweeping changes to medical regulation that would ensure doctors who are convicted of serious sexual offences are automatically struck off. There will be a new duty on the GMC to remove these medics from the approved list under the biggest shake-up for 40 years. The “five year rule” that stops the regulator considering older complaints of sexual misconduct could also be scrapped. The GMC has pledged to take a “zero tolerance” and proactive approach to all forms of sexual misconduct.

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