Doctor suspended over sex sessions in emergency ward

Dr Timothy Davey, 46, was removed from his £60,000-a-year job after he admitted he was "sexually intimate" with the woman when he was supposed to be working.

The married father of two had treated the woman for a knee injury and then struck up a relationship with her after sending her flirtatious text messages.

Davey's medical registration was suspended by the General Medical Council last week over fears he could pose a risk to vulnerable patients.

The GMC panel that heard his case has yet to rule whether he is fit to continue practising. If the panel decides he is not, he could be struck off the medical register.

The GMC heard that Davey, who admitted the relationship, worked as a staff grade doctor at Weston General Hospital in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

After treating the woman's knee, he gave her his personal mobile phone number and asked her to text him later with a progress report on her injury.

He then sent the patient, referred to as Miss AL, a number of flirtatious text messages in reply and treated her again when she returned to hospital.

The pair began an 11-month sexual relationship and were "sexually intimate" while he was working in the busy A&E department.

He also admits falsely claiming he was an acting consultant in emergency medicine in a letter he wrote for Miss AL about her fitness to return to work.

Allegations that patients had to wait while the pair engaged in sex were dropped at the GMC hearing.

The GMC has also dropped the claim that Davey helped his lover gain access to a private physiotherapist by writing letters pretending to be her GP.

The GMC ruled: "The panel has concluded that there are serious matters before it, which suggest that Dr Davey's fitness to practise may be impaired.

"In view of its findings of fact, the panel is satisfied that these matters could demonstrate that Dr Davey may pose a real risk to patients, and that his remaining in unrestricted practice would seriously undermine the trust that members of the public are entitled to place in the medical profession.

"The panel has taken account of the issue of proportionality and has balanced the need to protect members of the public, the public interest and Dr Davey's own interests against the consequences for him of the suspension of his registration."

Davey faces being struck off the medical register permanently if the GMC rules his fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct.

The hearing ran out of time on Friday and the panel will reconvene in Manchester to rule on the case at a date to be announced.

Davey has refused to speak about the case at his home in Weston-super-Mare.

Last year the Daily Mail revealed that Dr Joseph Meagher, 47, who appeared on a spin-off version of University Challenge on the BBC, narrowly escaped being struck off over allegations that he groped and had sex with a young female patient while working in Canada.

Banned from practising across the Atlantic, Dr Meagher moved to Britain and took a hospital job in Stockport but failed to tell his bosses of his past.

Despite this, the GMC refused to strike him off and instead imposed strict conditions on his registration, banning him from working with children or examining female patients without a chaperone.