'I am experienced in loving younger ladies': Doctor left women colleagues feeling 'very uncomfortable'

A doctor told female colleagues 'I am experienced in loving younger ladies' in a series of inappropriate comments which left them feeling 'very uncomfortable'.

Dr Muhammad Siddiqui also told two workmates at Tameside hospital 'younger ladies like older men with experience in loving' and 'ladies have bigger throats than you think, they can put big things down there, you know what I mean?'.

Dr Siddiqui was initially suspended for six months in May 2023 after a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service found he was guilty of misconduct. He's now been suspended for a third six month period, after the panel ruled he had failed to 'engage appropriately' with the disciplinary process.

The latest hearing, held on May 24 this year, heard that Dr Siddiqui was an 'experienced middle staff grade anaesthetist' working at Tameside Hospital when he made the comments between September 9 to 13, 2021.

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His remarks included 'I know ladies like an older man with experience' and 'younger boys/men only do a quick one and just leave but I know how to love them properly'.

The tribunal said the comments were not 'sexually motivated' but ruled they were 'unacceptable, inappropriate and clearly disrespectful'.

They left one of the women present 'very uncomfortable and distressed'. She reported Dr Siddiqui to senior staff soon afterwards.

The panel also heard that on June 14, 2018, Dr Siddiqui had been 'rude' and shouted at another colleague. His actions were described by the panel as 'conduct that was serious and amounted to misconduct'.

Dr Siddiqui was also said to have refused to work with 11 out of a total of 26 consultants. This was 'unreasonable and inappropriate', the panel said.

He later refused 'a direct instruction' from a clinical director and 'failed to complete anaesthetic lists to which he was allocated'.

At the May 2023 tribunal Dr Siddiqui 'appeared to feel aggrieved by how he had been treated at the Trust and may have felt his years of experience had been undervalued by his colleagues'. He had been 'remorseful' and offered an apology to the trust which the tribunal said was 'genuine and sincere'.

But he then failed to attend two following hearings and did not 'engage appropriately with the findings and recommendations', the ruling stated.

Suspending him for a further six months, the tribunal ruling states: "In the absence of evidence demonstrating developed or even developing insight, reflections or attempts at remediation by Dr Siddiqui, the Tribunal could not be satisfied that the risk of repetition of the conduct which led to the May 2023 Tribunal could be assessed as being low.

"On the contrary, the Tribunal considered that the risk of repetition was high."

A further review hearing will take place shortly before the end of Dr Siddiqui's latest suspension.