Weston consultant warned over harassing junior doctor

A consultant who pursued a "lengthy campaign" of harassment against a junior doctor has been given a warning by a medical tribunal.

Dr Vaibhav Borse, who was working as a locum at Weston General Hospital, said he was "obsessed" with her.

He told another that she was "probably the only pretty girl on Facebook".

The tribunal found that while Dr Borse's actions amounted to serious misconduct, his fitness to practise medicine was not impaired.

The tribunal heard that between February 2018 and July 2018 Dr Borse obtained the junior doctor's phone number from a group WhatsApp chat and used it to send her inappropriate "romantic" messages.

He also contacted her partner and made references to their relationship.

The Foundation Year 2 doctor reported his actions to the hospital trust's human resources department and Dr Borse was given a warning.

When the harassment continued, he was again instructed not to have any contact with any staff member via social media unless pre-authorised.

Towards the end of March in 2018, Dr Borse made further unsolicited comments to another colleague about his personal relationship and made several Facebook friend requests to her.

He told her he "hadn't been able to open up to any of the other juniors like he had been able to her".

In a written statement the first junior doctor said that following Dr Borse's actions she had sought counselling and felt that her Foundation Year 2 year had been ruined.

Giving evidence to the tribunal Dr Borse said that his mind had developed a "mental filter" which meant that he just could not see the junior doctor was not interested in a relationship with him.

He acknowledged that he was in a position of power and responsibility and said that his ill-founded feelings and overconfidence had clouded his judgement.

When asked how he felt about his conduct, he accepted his behaviour was "deplorable".

The tribunal said it had "no hesitation" in concluding that his actions amounted to serious misconduct and "fell far below the standards that would be expected of a reasonable practitioner".

It went on to find that Dr Borse's fitness to practise was not currently impaired noting he had attended a Maintaining Professional Boundaries course and there was no evidence that Dr Borse has repeated such behaviour since 2018.

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust declined to comment on the outcome of the hearing but said Dr Borse was no longer employed at the Trust.