Doctor faces hearing over patient

A DOCTOR stands accused of abusing his position after bombarding a female patient with gifts, emails and text messages. The General Medical Council today (Monday) began a fitness to practice hearing into whether Dr Matthew Goodchild-Simpson abused a posit

A DOCTOR stands accused of abusing his position after bombarding a female patient with gifts, emails and text messages.

The General Medical Council today (Monday) began a fitness to practice hearing into whether Dr Matthew Goodchild-Simpson abused a position of trust, and whether or not he acted in the best interests of a patient.

It is alleged that, while working at the Ashwell Surgery in 2007, Dr Goodchild-Simpson sent a string of text messages and emails to a female patient known as Ms KT.

On August 21, 2007, he wrote to the patient after an appointment with follow-up information, and included his personal e-mail address and the fact that he was single. He followed this up with an email, which included his mobile telephone number.

Despite the woman rejecting his advances, he is said to have invited her to attend a rugby match with him at Twickenham, emailed her pictures taken while she was out riding a horse, and left a rugby shirt for her at a local florist.

Although he was warned by a colleague and an officer from Herts police to desist from contacting Ms KT, Dr Goodchild-Simpson continued to do so over a four-month period.

The hearing is expected to last four days.