GP to be monitored by a 'responsible officer' after asking Muslim woman to remove veil

The incidents involving the GP, who was working as a locum at a walk-in centre at Royal Stoke University Hospital, concern urgent care centres in both Derby and Stoke.

Dr Wolverson asked a patient to take off her niqab three times as he could not hear her describing her daughter’s symptoms.

The woman’s husband put forward a complaint following the incident.

She also told last year’s hearing that she felt “victimised and racially discriminated” against during the consultation.

He told a review hearing he “deeply regretted” the incident and stressed he learned from his mistakes.

The Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service (MPTS) decided to follow his suspension with sanctions for a further year after ruling he had not shown sufficient “insight” into his actions nor taken a course in “cultural diversity”.

Dr Wolverson is now being monitored by a “responsible officer” and a “workplace reporter”.

He was also told he must “design a personal development plan to address... equality, diversity and inclusion with particular reference to cultural diversity”.

Dr Wolverson told the tribunal: “It would be completely wrong to maintain the suspension and prohibit a doctor further from doing his duty to his patients when there are such grave shortages within the NHS currently.”

The GP stressed he had not asked any other patients to remove their veil and there had been no “repetition of his misconduct” before his suspension.

However, a petition calling on the General Medical Council showed how the incident provoked outrage among nurses and doctors.

More than 20,000 people signed the petition calling on the GMC to “treat this man fairly and look at all the evidence” in little over a day.

In its new ruling, the tribunal stated: “He accepted the gravity and the findings of the Tribunal but did not accept that he was dishonest.

“The Tribunal was surprised that Dr Wolverson had not focussed any of his remediation by undertaking any courses on cultural diversity.

“He accepted the previous Tribunal’s findings were justified but qualified this by stating that he did not accept that it was his intention to be dishonest.

“The Tribunal noted that Dr Wolverson explained he has undertaken a course on insight and described how he has changed his practice in relation to patients who wear a face veil.

“However, when questioned, Dr Wolverson was unable to articulate how he has put his learning into practise.”

But the tribunal decided not to extend Dr Wolverson’s suspension and instead opted to impose conditions on his registration for a further 12 months.