A medical tribunal has been slammed over its decision to suspend rather than strike off a doctor accused of rape after it ruled the assault was a “one-off”.
A High Court judge criticised the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel after it found Dr Aloaye Foy-Yamah had attacked a woman in his personal life outside of work.
The panel deemed it a “one-off event” and ruled it did not involve patient safety concerns and was unlikely to be repeated.
Making the decision in January 2025, the panel said the Blackpool-based consultant should be suspended for 12 months, despite the medic regulator, the General Medical Council, recommending he be struck off.
The incident was alleged to have happened on 2 December in his Blackpool home. He has not been charged by police over the allegation.
Following the MPTS ruling, the GMC appealed the decision. During a two-day hearing on 7 and 8 October, Judge Mr Justice Ritchie said that MPTS panel findings were “without logical foundation, lacked any or any sufficient evidential foundation and failed properly to take into account his conduct, lack of insight, his lack of remediation”.
He also rejected an appeal by Dr Foy-Yamah against the MPTS’ finding that he had raped the woman.
The judge said the sanction against the medic should be reconsidered by a panel as soon a practicable and that Dr Foy-Yamah would remain suspended in the interim.
In his analysis of the arguments, the judge said: “In my judgment, it is clear that there are substantial risks to any woman who may become friendly with Dr Foy outside work, in Blackpool, and may then go back to his house (or to her accommodation) and lead him to feel aroused. Furthermore, there was no sufficient evidence before the panel that Dr Foy realised that when Ms A said no, that meant no - quite the opposite.”
He also argued that the panel’s findings over the circumstances of the incident were “hardly unusual” and “could occur anytime in a huge range of similar circumstances.”
He added: “The fact he was aroused is not an excuse for him to ignore her free will and rape her. The incident was isolated only because he had not raped anyone before.”
The judge said the subsequent lack of insight by Dr Foy-Yamah was “very troubling.”
During the tribunal, Dr Foy-Yamah denied the rape occurred.
Lancashire Police said in 2018 it received a report of rape. It said: “The matter was thoroughly investigated. After consulting with the Crown Prosecution Service, the case was not proceeded with due to evidential difficulties.”
Medical tribunals have a different threshold to criminal prosecutions, and only need to consider allegations on the “balance of probabilities.”
A GMC spokesperson said: “We welcome the High Court’s decision. We are clear that any form of sexual misconduct has no place in healthcare. At the fresh tribunal, we will argue once again that erasure is the appropriate sanction in this case.”
An MPTS spokesperson said: "We always consider appeal judgments carefully for any learning points that can be used to improve future decision-making by MPTS tribunals."
The GMC this year was also forced to appeal a decision by the MPTS to suspend rather than strike off Dr James Gilbert despite a tribunal finding he had sexually harassed junior female colleagues and made racist statements.
In September, research into MPTS decisions found more than a third of doctors who faced tribunals over sexual misconduct in 2023-24 were allowed to return to work after being given short suspensions rather than being struck off.
Last year, The Independent revealed hundreds of doctors and nurses were left free to practise unchecked despite being accused of sexual assault and rape between 2018 and 2024.
The MPTS ruling comes after a series of investigations by The Independent also found the Nursing and Midwifery Council was failing to sanction nurses and midwives over sexual assault and domestic violence allegations in their personal lives. The reports prompted the regulator to change its guidance.
