A ‘golden boy’ transplant surgeon of the Oxford Transplant Centre, has been suspended for eight months for sexual harassment involving four female colleagues.
James Gilbert, 47, a married father of two, was found guilty of inappropriate conduct towards his colleagues, three of whom were trainees at the prestigious centre.
One woman said she did not feel she was in a ‘position of equal power’ to speak out about Gilbert when he tickled her and massaged her shoulders without her consent.
She said his status was the ‘golden boy’ of the department and that he was the ‘be-all and end-all for transplants in Oxford’.
Another former trainee had formally complained about his behavior to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2014, but her concerns were ‘swiftly swept under the carpet’ by senior management.
Despite being ‘excluded’ from work by the trust in May 2021 due to concerns about his conduct, Gilbert was allowed to return to work six weeks later with restrictions.
A ‘golden boy’ transplant surgeon of the Oxford Transplant Centre, has been suspended for eight months for sexual harassment involving four female colleagues. James Gilbert, 47, a married father of two, was found guilty of inappropriate conduct towards his colleagues, three of whom were trainees at the prestigious centre.
A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel heard that an email was subsequently sent to 46 current and former surgical trainees in the department, inviting them to contact a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian if they had any concerns to report.
This triggered an internal investigation, leading to his dismissal in May 2022 and subsequent referral to the General Medical Council (GMC).
Last month, the GMC detailed a pattern of inappropriate behavior by Gilbert, dating from 2009 to 2022, which he denied.
However, the MPTS ruled this week that Gilbert had sexually harassed four women, inappropriately touched three of them, and made inappropriate sexual comments and racist remarks, all while abusing his senior position in the department.
During an operation he said to one trainee: ‘So are you a spurter? I can always tell which girls the spurters’, while on another occasion he said to her: ‘You’re a well together girl, you must always wear matching underwear.
‘What kind are you wearing now?’
He asked another trainee if she too was wearing matching underwear and on one occasion stared at her body and breast and said: ‘I have been watching you and you’re pretty perfect.’
Mr Gilbert was ruled to have targeted the same woman by tickling her and massaging her shoulders without her consent at numerous times, and that he had squeezed her thigh between his thighs under the operating table.
A third colleague was told she ‘looked great in a pair of scrubs and didn’t need to go to the gym’ and ‘I bet you are really wild on a night out’.
He touched a fourth woman’s knee from behind and said ‘your legs are so sporty’, while he also touched her waist as they passed in a corridor and remarked: ‘Oh dear, it’s a bit narrow for both of us here but it feels incredibly nice’.
A former trainee had formally complained about his behavior to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2014, but her concerns were ‘swiftly swept under the carpet’ by senior management. Despite being ‘excluded’ from work by the trust in May 2021 due to concerns about his conduct, Gilbert was allowed to return to work six weeks later with restrictions
The panel, sitting in Manchester, also ruled that during a ward round Mr Gilbert said: ‘You know how Africans clean themselves once they’ve gone to the toilet?
‘They just use their hands, no wonder they always get infections.’
In a discussion about a colleague he was also found to have said: ‘I know these Africans, they are only interested in a good time.
‘They only come out after the sun goes down.’
Related Post
Tribunal chairman Andrew McLoughlin found that Mr Gilbert’s fitness to practise was impaired because of misconduct.
He said: ‘The Tribunal concluded that Mr Gilbert had demonstrated a significant degree of insight and had taken a number of steps to remediate his failings.
‘However, Mr Gilbert’s insight was not fully developed into the full extent of his behaviour as found proved by the Tribunal.
‘He may benefit from further time to digest and reflect on the findings against him.’
Consequently, the tribunal determined that an eight-month suspension was appropriate to mark the seriousness of his misconduct.
A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service determined that an eight-month suspension was appropriate to mark the seriousness of his misconduct
Gilbert, who graduated from the University of Southampton in 2000, has 28 days to appeal the suspension.
The tribunal heard that he is currently the chief medical officer at The New Foscote Hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and the Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital in Aylesbury, both private institutions.
He also performs NHS hernia surgeries and runs waiting list clinics.
Dr Andrew Brent, Chief Medical Officer at Oxford University Hospitals said: ‘With the conclusion of these proceedings, I would like to thank staff who stood up and called out unacceptable behaviour.
‘They have had to revisit this a number of times and we recognise how difficult that must have been. We will continue to offer our staff support and to encourage all our people to feel able to challenge behaviours that do not fit with our organisational or professional values.’
