Hinchingbrooke doctor who shared photos of naked women and made inappropriate comment to pregnant colleague given 12 month sanction

Dr Nikolay Tsakov admitted showing two colleagues a picture on a computer screen of a number of naked women on top of each other with their legs open.

He also admitted showing a music video on his phone which contained semi-naked men and women, as well as telling a pregnant staff member: “Is that what happens when you sleep with no knickers on?”

The locum consultant specialising in ear, nose and throat medicine worked at the hospital run by the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust - which also runs Peterborough City and Stamford and Rutland hospitals - between October and November 2017.

Dr Tsakov, who qualified from the Medical Academy of Sofia in 1999, has also admitted a number of other claims against him while working at different hospital trusts.

These include:

. Saying he was staying in “a refugee camp at Antrim Area Hospital”, or words to that effect

. Showing a crude picture of a toy rabbit on his mobile phone

. Asking for a lift to collect a car while patients were waiting to be seen

. Using a metal syringe to squirt water into a patient’s ear canal

. Pulling a patient towards him, causing him to fall against his torso and knee

. Attempting to remove grommets from a patient’s ears by shaking their head vigorously from side to side.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing has now sanctioned Dr Tsakov for a minimum period of 12 months, following which a review hearing will take place to ensure he is “safe to return to unrestricted practice”.

During this period he will have to notify the General Medical Council details of his current post, have a workplace reporter, and he must be supervised in all of his roles, among other restrictions.

Summing up its reasoning for the sanction, the tribunal said it was “of the view that Dr Tsakov’s misconduct was capable of remediation but that he has a difficult task to take his comedic persona out of his medical professional life”.

It added that it was “concerned that Dr Tsakov had engaged in similar inappropriate behaviour towards other colleagues despite warnings and being placed on conditions,” and that “even when Dr Tsakov had given his evidence during the current proceedings in a formal setting, he had occasionally slipped into his jocular mode”.

However, it noted that the consultant had “developed insight into his misconduct” and apologised for his behaviour which he himself described as “disgraceful” and “outrageous”.

Moreover, he has begun to “remediate his misconduct”.

Dr Kanchan Rege, chief medical officer for North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This doctor worked as a locum at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust in 2017.

“As soon as his concerning behaviours came to light he was removed from clinical practice at the hospital.

“The trust has complied fully with his locum agency and GMC to provide the necessary information.”