Guidance for MPTS Tribunals

Over the past year, the MPTS has been developing new guidance for MPTS tribunals; this has now been published and will come into force on 24th November 2025. The guidance can be viewed here.

The new guidance will replace the ‘Sanctions guidance’ and support tribunals making decisions about doctors facing serious allegations, including sexual misconduct, discrimination and violent and abusive behaviours. For the first time, ‘Guidance for MPTS Tribunals’ will include sanctions bandings. These indicate the range of outcomes that can be expected in different case types, once a tribunal has decided whether a doctor poses a low, medium or high level of risk to the public.

The guidance also includes much more detail about assessing the seriousness of an allegation and the features that may increase seriousness. For example, allegations relating to sexual assault, improper relationships or violence will usually fall at the higher end of the spectrum. Persistent or repeated behaviour and behaviour directed towards a vulnerable person, may increase seriousness.  

The BOA Code of Conduct expects members and colleagues within trauma and orthopaedics to demonstrate behaviours that create a work environment where staff feel safe and respected and urges people to call out inappropriate behaviours in a respectful, direct and honest way. The BOA Code of Conduct and other resources can be viewed here.

The BOA has also contributed to and supported the work  undertaken by the Royal College of Surgeons England, NHS England and others in highlighting unacceptable behaviours, providing and signposting people who have received or witnessed sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, and sexual assault in healthcare.

Further reading

1. Dixon F, Pouncey AL, Ali R, Vitish-Sharma P, Bengtzen M, Nortley M. Protecting or enabling? A review of medical practitioner tribunals involving sexual misconduct. The Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2025;107(7). https://doi.org/10.1308/rcsbull.2025.124.

2. “Dangerously unsafe”: Doctor tribunal service’s handling of sexual misconduct cases condemned by victims and researchers. BMJ 2025;390:r1935. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r1935.

3. Royal College of Surgeons of England. Turning the tide: progress and actions to support targets of sexual misconduct in surgery. April 2025. Available at: www.rcseng.ac.uk/-/media/Files/RCS/About-rcs/About-our-mission/Turning-the-tide-progress-actions-sexual-misconduct-in-surgery.pdf
4. Since the publication of The Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery’s (WPSMS) report Breaking the Silence: Addressing Sexual Misconduct in Healthcare and the in-depth study published by the British Journal of Surgery, we have redoubled our efforts to stamp out sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. You can read more about the work RCSEngland is doing on sexual misconduct here: Sexual misconduct in surgery.