Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service determination — substantive hearing
Suspended from practice — 8 months
The regulator’s term: suspension
What does “suspended from practice” mean?
A suspension is a fixed-term pause on the right to practise. The practitioner cannot work in the regulated profession during the suspension. At the end of the period the suspension may be extended, replaced with another sanction, or lifted on review.
Concerning Chirag Patel, doctor (General Medical Council 5199357).
Decision date: 16 April 2026 · Hearing started 30 March 2026 and ended 16 April 2026
In plain English
The MPTS tribunal found that Dr Chirag Patel's fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct. Dr Patel, a Consultant Neurosurgeon at the University Hospital of Wales, admitted he engaged in a sexual relationship with a patient who was vulnerable by reason of her physical health, sent her explicit images of himself, and prescribed her controlled medication outside proper clinical processes including without telling her GP. The tribunal suspended his registration for 8 months.
Charges
Dr Patel, a Consultant Neurosurgeon at the University Hospital of Wales, was alleged to have engaged in a sexual relationship with Patient A, a vulnerable patient under his care, between September 2019 and February 2023. He admitted engaging in the relationship, sending explicit images of himself to her, having a close personal relationship while prescribing controlled medication to her between 12 May 2022 and 10 January 2023, knowing he should not prescribe a controlled drug on a non-emergency basis, and failing to record the medication in her hospital records or to communicate with or inform her GP about the prescriptions.
Findings
The Tribunal found Patient A was under Dr Patel's medical care at all material times and was vulnerable by reason of her physical health conditions, which Dr Patel knew or ought to have known. Allegations that Patient A was also vulnerable by reason of mental health conditions, personal circumstances, or a history of addiction were not proved. Dr Patel admitted the sexual relationship, sending explicit images, and the prescribing failures. The Tribunal found his fitness to practise impaired by reason of misconduct on the basis of these admitted and proved facts.
Source
All facts on this page are drawn from the publicly published Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service determination linked below. MedicWatch does not editorialise the regulator’s findings.
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