Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service determination — substantive hearing
MPTS tribunal erases GP Dr Elliot Burns over sexual relationship with vulnerable patient
A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel has erased GP Dr Elliot Burns from the medical register after finding he engaged in an improper emotional and sexual relationship with a vulnerable patient, including three instances of sexual activity while she was under his care.
MedicWatch editorial · Published 10 June 2026 · Updated 7 July 2026
Erasure (struck off the register)
Added to MedicWatch: 7 July 2026Report a correction
What does “struck off the register” mean?
Being struck off (the regulator calls this "erasure") removes the practitioner from the register. They are no longer permitted to practise this profession in the UK. Erasure can be reviewed after a minimum of five years, but is otherwise indefinite.
Concerning Elliot Burns, doctor (General Medical Council 6119007).
Decision date: 10 June 2026 · Hearing started 1 June 2026 and ended 10 June 2026
In plain English
The MPTS tribunal found that Dr Elliot Burns, a GP, engaged in an improper emotional and sexual relationship with a vulnerable patient between July 2013 and March 2015, including exchanging sexualised messages and images and three instances of sexual activity while she was his patient. The tribunal decided his fitness to practise was impaired by his misconduct and ordered that his name be erased from the medical register.
Charges
The GMC alleged that between July 2013 and March 2015 Dr Burns engaged in an improper emotional and/or sexual relationship with Patient A, a patient at his GP practice who was vulnerable by reason of her medical history and mental health, and that he knew or ought to have known she was vulnerable. It was alleged he communicated with her by text message and email, requested and received inappropriate images of her, sent inappropriate images of himself, and engaged in sexual activity with her on three occasions, and that by reason of these matters his fitness to practise was impaired because of misconduct.
Findings
The tribunal found all facts proved. Dr Burns admitted the communications and image exchanges; the tribunal found proved, on the balance of probabilities, that he engaged in sexual activity with Patient A on three occasions while she was his patient and vulnerable. It determined his conduct was a serious departure from Good Medical Practice and the GMC's guidance on maintaining professional boundaries, amounting to serious professional misconduct, and that his fitness to practise was currently impaired on all three limbs of public protection. Working through the sanctions in order, the tribunal concluded that no action, conditions and suspension were insufficient and that erasure was the proportionate response.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Mitigating factors
At the sanction stage the tribunal acknowledged that Dr Burns is a competent doctor who had practised for 13 years since the events without further concerns or fitness-to-practise history, that a significant time had elapsed, that he had engaged throughout with the regulatory process and NHS England, expressed genuine regret and remorse, completed a three-day course on maintaining professional boundaries, and provided positive colleague and patient feedback and a professional testimonial.
Aggravating factors
The tribunal identified seven features that increased the seriousness of the behaviour: it was persistent or repeated; it was directed towards a person with a particular vulnerability; it was premeditated; it was predatory; it involved an abuse of Dr Burns's professional position; it showed a reckless disregard for patient safety and professional standards; and he put his own interests before those of the patient.
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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