At Opening Up, our analysis of doctor misconduct has repeatedly identified sexual boundary violations as a significant source of patient harm. The General Medical Council’s (GMC) guidance on relationships with patients lacks clarity and relies too heavily on doctors to interpret ethical boundaries for themselves.

The gap between number of complaints about sexual misconduct and abuse by doctors, and number of sanctions seems staggering but looking at these numbers in isolation is a mistake; they don’t even begin to tell the full story.