Family doctor who served in the British Army is banned from treating patients for six weeks after groping colleague's bottom during boozy post-lockdown dinner at military base

A family GP who served as a doctor in the British Army has been banned from treating patients after he groped a medical colleague's bottom during a drunken formal dinner at a military base.

Dr Graham Wheatley, 60, touched the woman on repeated occasions and was also accused of fondling her breast as he adjusted medals he had jokingly transferred from his own dinner jacket onto her evening gown.

During the evening at the officers' mess, Wheatley was said to have got 'extremely inebriated' after drinking red wine and was seen to be 'stumbling and unsteady on his feet and also slurring his words.'

Eventually he got 'very handsy' with the woman after the meal and put his arm around her waist and touched her bottom on 'one or more occasions.' She was said to be 'tearful, visibly distressed and shocked' by the encounter.

At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service Wheatley who runs the Munro Medical Centre GP surgery in Spalding, Lincs was suspended from practise for six weeks after he was found guilty of sexually motivated misconduct and sexual harassment.

He has since resigned from his role at a security organisation and is planning to appeal.

A disciplinary panel ruled Wheatley had touched the woman's bottom and waist but cleared him of intentionally touching her breast after accepting the GP may have 'accidentally' made contact with it whilst adjusting the medals on her dress.

The incident occurred in November 2021 when Wheatley, who served as medical officer in the British army between 1986 and 2001, attended the three day Tri-service Trainers' Conference which culminated in the formal dinner in the unnamed Officers' Mess.

The Manchester hearing was told the event had not taken place for two years due to the Covid pandemic and the atmosphere was described as 'convivial' with the 40 guests 'happy to socialise face-to-face after lockdown.'

Wheatley was seated on the top table where 12 complimentary bottles of wine were handed to the 10 guests seated around it. 

Later during jovial conversation his medals were pinned onto Ms A's dress, high up on her chest. Problems began when he went to personally retrieve the medals as guests moved into the bar area after the final course of coffee and mints.

In a statement Ms A said: 'Dr Wheatley was extremely inebriated and would continue to seek me out whilst I was in conversations with other guests. He was very handsy and did put his hands around my waist on more than one occasion.

'I was trying to divert his attentions to get him to leave and I remember trying to send him away on at least four separate occasions. But during one of these times when Graham came over to the bar, he reached out to his medals that were attached to my dress on my chest, and in doing so touched my boob.

'I don't recall whether he said anything before he reached out, but I understood from the situation that he was looking to adjust the medals that had come unhooked. I think Graham was touching my boob for about 10 seconds. He was drunk and so it wasn't just a quick readjustment.'

Another medical colleague known as Dr B said: 'I recall standing up from the table and saw Graham, who was approximately 3-5 metres away from me at this point, pinning his medals onto Ms A's chest. I remember hearing him apologise, though I don't recall exactly what he said

nor what Ms A said in response, if anything.

'During the evening he also reached out towards Ms A with his left hand and eventually made contact with her buttock. I recall Ms A immediately asking him to stop and I could tell by the way she said what she said that she was shocked and that she didn't like Graham touching her buttock.

'Ms A wasn't really able to move away, as she was between Graham, the wall and the bar. recall interjecting and saying to Graham something along the lines of 'you cannot do that sort of thing Graham'. But I don't recall whether he said anything coherent in response to either myself or Ms A or anyone else in the group - he then moved away from the group.

'The whole situation wouldn't have lasted any longer than a few moments, potentially a minute or so. Ms A then moved out into the corridor only a short distance away from the bar and I remember apologising to Ms A that this had happened to her and saying that it was wholly inappropriate what Graham did. She was tearful, visibly distressed and shocked.

'I got the impression that she that she was trying to process what had just happened in the context of the evening as a whole.'

When he sobered up, Wheatley initially said that he could not remember groping the woman and said any such contact 'must have been accidental and was caused by his drunken state.' He then apologised generally for any offence he might have caused due to his drunken state but in subsequent emails denied being drunk and sought to blame Ms A.

MPTS chairman Mr Andrew Clemes said: 'The Tribunal considered that Dr Wheatley was very intoxicated at the time the incident took place and he may have been disinhibited through alcohol. Ms A and Dr B were not intoxicated. They had each consumed some alcohol but such consumption was most unlikely to have affected their ability to observe and recall events.

'The Tribunal accepted Ms A as a credible witness as she had given a generally consistent account which was unlikely to have been affected by excessive alcohol consumption.

'Ms A and Dr Wheatley were not established friends or acquaintances and were occasional work colleagues at best. Dr Wheatley's actions had created a degrading or humiliating environment for Ms A. Even though the incident had occurred outside the workplace and was in a social setting, it was still unwelcome contact.'

Earlier defence counsel Kevin McCartney said: 'Dr Wheatley's behaviour arose at a social situation, not in the context of seeing patients, and followed excess alcohol consumption. This was at a social function, which was one of the first that Dr Wheatley had attended since the restrictions imposed by the pandemic had been lifted and that this influenced his alcohol consumption.

'Dr Wheatley recognises he had far too much to drink that night, and now uses strategies to ensure that he does not drink to

excess at such events now or in the future and does not cause offence by unwanted touching.'

After the case Wheatley confirmed he was appealing against the suspension. In a statement to his local newspaper he said: 'There has unfortunately been an entirely malicious complaint made by somebody with no connection to the practice.

'The main witness has so far given at least two different accounts and because of this, we were surprised and very disappointed that the tribunal did not find against this allegation. Therefore we expect it to be overturned on appeal.'