A WOMAN has attacked the suspension given to the Swindon doctor who subjected her to an intimate examination without wearing gloves.

The patient said Dr Amitabh Dwivedi, a GP at Ridge Green Medical Centre since 2001, should have been struck off the doctors’ register.

The doctor of 25 years has been suspended for three months after a series of allegations against him were found proven.

A Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service hearing in Manchester was told Dr Dwivedi had subjected two women to intimate examinations between 2014 and 2016.

In one case, he failed to wear gloves during the home examination, said it had slipped his mind to offer her a chaperone and had embraced the partially-dressed woman as she sat on her bed.

Suspending him, the tribunal called the misdemeanours an “aberration in an otherwise unblemished career”. His behaviour had fallen well below that expected of a doctor, they said.

But one of the women slammed the punishment handed out by the tribunal as disappointing.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the Advertiser: “It was not right. It was so wrong. For me, he shouldn’t even be practicing because of what he’s done.

“I’ve become a recluse. It’s affected my relationships with men. I don’t go to my doctors’ surgery unless it’s an emergency.

“The first year after it happened I couldn’t sleep in my bed. I had to sleep on my sofa.

“It’s worse now, because I had that hope that I was going through everything for a reason. That hope is gone. Now I know he’s going to be back in my local surgery.

“He should have been struck off for what he did.”

The tribunal panel was asked to deliberate on 18 allegations relating to Dr Dwivedi’s treatment of two women registered linked to the Ridge Green Medical Centre.

They heard Dr Dwivedi had arranged to visit one patient at her home to conduct a vaginal examination on March 9, 2016, with that home visit being deemed unnecessary by the tribunal.

When he visited her home, Dr Dwivedi helped remove the woman’s underwear. He carried out an intimate examination that, in the view, of the tribunal was not excessively long. However, he admitted he had not worn gloves as he was too distracted by the woman’s medical condition. He told the tribunal he had intended to offer a chaperone but it had slipped his mind.

The tribunal was told Dr Dwivedi, while sat next to her on the bed, told his partially-undressed patient, “Every time I see you I feel like you need a hug”. The hug left the woman feeling uncomfortable, she told the panel.

But the tribunal stopped short of calling Dr Dwivedi’s actions sexually motivated.

It accepted Dr Dwivedi’s lawyers admission that “something went very wrong with this home visit”.

Dr Dwivedi admitted to carrying out intimate examinations on a second patient three times between April 2014 and May 2015 and on each occasion failed to record whether a chaperone was offered. He had not recorded whether the patient had consented to a fourth examination, carried out in November 2013.

Suspending him for three months, the tribunal said there had been no evidence Dr Dwivedi had reflected on how his actions had impacted his patient and had no awareness of appropriate doctor-patient boundaries when his patient was vulnerable.

However, they said he was of previous good character, had repeatedly apologised for his behaviour and had completed training courses.

The tribunal concluded: “[We] considered that Dr Dwivedi’s behaviour was inappropriate in that he had failed to take action when Patient A’s dignity was compromised.

“These actions risked the loss of public confidence and resulted in a serious breach of the standards…However, Dr Dwivedi has acknowledged his faults during the course of these proceedings and the tribunal is satisfied that he has shown developing insight into his misconduct and does not pose a significant risk of repeating his behaviour.

“Dr Dwivedi’s conduct as found in this case is an aberration in an otherwise unblemished career.”

The Advertiser understands a police investigation into Dr Dwivedi has been dropped for lack of evidence.

Ridge Green Medical Practice said it was unable to comment on individual cases.

Patient urges others to get support if they have concerns

A PATIENT subjected to an intimate examination by Dr Dwivedi said women should not feel scared about reporting doctors they fear have crossed the line.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the Swindon Advertiser:“Don’t be afraid to go to the authorities, to the police.

“The reason I went to the police in the first place was because I couldn’t stop what happened to me.

“I couldn’t take it away from happening to me. But I could stop it from happening to someone else.”

After initially reporting Dr Dwivedi to the police, the General Medical Council launched its own investigation.

A spokeswoman for the GMC, which is the professional body for doctors, said the organisation assessed allegations raised about a doctor’s behaviour and whether they needed to formally investigate it.

Probes were typically launched where a doctor was feared to be putting at risk the safety of his patients or the public’s confidence in the medical profession.

GMC investigations into individuals can take months or even years. The ultimate sanction available to the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service, which decides on allegations brought by the GMC against doctors, is to strike the accused from the medical register. If they are struck off, it means the doctor can no longer practise.

To report concerns to the GMC, visit: www.gmc-uk.org/concerns/raise-a-concern.