Sexual misconduct in surgery

Sexual misconduct has no place in surgery or healthcare. We are committed to a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct, and are working to make surgery a safer field for everyone.

Our work builds on the Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery (WPSMS) landmark report Breaking the Silence: Addressing Sexual Misconduct in Healthcare (2023) and our latest publication Turning the Tide: Progress and Actions to Support Targets of Sexual Misconduct in Surgery (2025).

We work in partnership with the WPSMS, NHS England, government, regulators, and professional bodies to:

  • update organisational guidelines and further research;
  • increase prevention, reporting, and accountability;
  • support targets of sexual misconduct.

Links

How to report sexual misconduct

If you experience or witness sexual harassment or assault in the workplace, you can report these incidents through your employer's procedures and, where appropriate, to the police. Find out more about when to report misconduct on the WPSMS website.

If you have a concern or complaint about an individual affiliated with the College - including staff, members, and non-members in College-appointed or elected roles - you can report this through the Sexual Misconduct Reporting Form. To understand how reports are handled, you can view the Sexual Misconduct Reporting Flowchart.

Support

We recognise that reporting can be difficult. Third-party support is available to help you navigate these challenges.

RCS England offers a 24/7 Confidential Support and Advice Service. Members can access this helpline on 0800 028 0199 for legal guidance or emotional support from trained counsellors.

Other sources of support include:

What we’re doing

Working closely with the WPSMS, we are taking sustained action to strengthen accountability, improve reporting, and ensure fair, trauma-informed processes for those affected by sexual misconduct.  

We have appointed Professor Vivien Lees, our Vice President, and Lucy Davies, Executive Director, to oversee this work. We are also supported by Professor Rosalind Searle, independent expert advisor.

1. Strengthening reporting and accountability

2. Working with government and the NHS

  • We are working to ensure that tackling sexual misconduct remains a national priority. We have pressed for effective implementation of the National Sexual Misconduct Policy Framework, which for the first time requires all NHS organisations to put local anonymous reporting mechanisms in place, as recommended by the WPSMS.
  • We continue to engage with parliamentarians and senior officials to ensure that sexual misconduct in healthcare is treated as a serious workforce, patient safety, and public trust issue.  

3. Policies and code of conduct

4. Changing culture through education

  • We are developing training and resources that help individuals and organisations challenge inappropriate behaviour effectively and as it happens.
  • We are developing a Code of Conduct training package, Building a Safer Profession, for individuals in College-appointed and elected roles, as well as our staff. This training has been designed with a trauma-informed approach and will include advice on active upstander intervention, recognising and responding to sexual misconduct, understanding power dynamics and vulnerability, and signposting support.

5. Culture and performance

  • We have embedded diversity, equity, and inclusion in our strategy, values, and operational delivery. We recognise that sexual misconduct does not occur in isolation and is often linked to wider cultural and structural inequalities.
  • We have made significant governance changes to ensure diversity in our leadership and in our activities.

Read more about our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work.

Timeline

September 2023: Publication of the Breaking the Silence Report, the first comprehensive analysis of sexual misconduct in the surgical profession, produced by the WPSMS.

September 2023:  NHS England launched the Sexual Safety in Healthcare Charter, setting a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct and harassment across healthcare organisations.

October 2023: Tamzin Cuming, Chair of the WPSMS, gave evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee on sexual assault and harassment within the NHS.

July 2024: We introduced a new Code of Conduct for all members, specified non-members in appointed or elected roles, and RCS England Staff, reinforcing expected professional standards and ethical behaviour in alignment with Good Surgical Practice.

October 2024: Baroness Merron, Minister for Patient Safety and Women’s Health, spoke at an RCS England-hosted WPSMS Supporting and Reporting Summit, focused on improving reporting, accountability and support.

April 2025: Publication of the RCS England Turning the Tide Report, setting out priorities for system-wide reform and support.

October 2025: The MPTS published updated Guidance for MPTS Tribunals, including revised expectations for handling cases involving sexual misconduct.   

Understanding the scale of the problem 

We have worked alongside the WPSMS since its formation in 2022, supporting the publication of Breaking the Silence: Addressing Sexual Misconduct in Healthcare in 2023. This landmark report exposed the scale of sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, and sexual assault in surgery, and set out clear recommendations for action. The survey revealed that nearly one in three female surgeons had been sexually assaulted by a colleague, and two-thirds had experienced sexual harassment. 

In 2023, for the first time, both the NHS Staff Survey and the GMC National Training Survey included questions on unwanted sexual behaviour.  

The NHS Staff Survey 2025 shows that around one in ten NHS staff experienced unwanted sexual behaviour from patients, service users, their relatives, or other members of the public.  

The GMC National Training Survey 2025 reported that 14% of female surgery trainees experienced unwelcome sexual comments or advances.  

Research

Recent research published in the RCS England Bulletin highlights serious shortcomings in how the MPTS has handled sexual misconduct cases involving doctors.

Key findings:

  • Of 222 MPTS tribunal cases analysed (August 2023–August 2024), 55 involved sexual misconduct, including harassment, rape, and child abuse.
  • Nearly one in four sanctions (23.9%) were more lenient than GMC recommendations. In no case was a tougher sanction imposed.
  • All perpetrators were male doctors, with over 80% in positions of authority.
  • 65% of proven cases led to erasure from the GMC register, while 35% resulted only in a short suspension.
  • Several cases involved multiple targets, exposing repeated and systemic abuse.

Read the research

This research contains information and experiences that may be distressing. Support is available via the RCS England Confidential Support and Advice Line and on 0800 028 0199.

These findings reinforce our calls for robust, consistent, and transparent sanctions in sexual misconduct cases and underline the urgent need for an independent national anonymous reporting mechanism.

Outputs

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