GP who asked Muslim woman to remove her veil ‘because he was struggling to understand her’ is struck off for continuing to work while suspended

A general practitioner who continued to work after being suspended for asking a Muslim woman to remove her veil has been dismissed.

Dr Keith Wolverson was suspended for misconduct after he repeatedly asked the woman to remove her veil during an appointment, which she eventually did.

He later said it was because he ‘spoke poor English’ and she had ‘a hard time understanding him’.

However, the court found that his English was fluent and his native language and that his response to the complaint was not honest.

He continued to work throughout the nine-month suspension and went against the ‘clear advice’ given to him by a misconduct panel.

Due to his ‘blatant disregard for the regulatory process’ and failure to attend the Medical Practitioners Tribunal hearing, he has now been suspended from his duties.

In 2022, Dr Wolverson was found guilty or pleaded guilty to a total of 17 charges of misconduct relating to incidents that occurred while he was working as a locum at urgent care centers in Derby and Stoke between January and May 2018.

One incident at Royal Stoke University Hospital saw a Muslim woman, named only by the court as Miss Q, asked to remove her veil three times during an examination on May 13, 2018, and said she could not hear her daughter describe her symptoms.

He denied his first request, saying he didn’t want it for religious reasons, but later repeated it.

Her husband complained and the woman told the hearing last year that she felt ‘victimized and racially discriminated against’ during the interview.

In an email sent in response to the complaint later that month, Dr. Wolverson said the woman ‘spoke poor English’, had ‘difficulty understanding her’ and ‘tried to look at her mouth movements to aid communication’; the court deemed it fraudulent.

It was also revealed that Dr Wolverson refused to speak to Mrs Q’s husband despite efforts to contact the doctor. Dr Wolverson later claimed this was because he “found her mannerisms to be offensive and intimidating”.

Dr Wolverson’s legal representative admitted the doctor had acted ‘insensitively’.

In other incidents, he wrote notes criticizing the English speaking skills of 15 patients between January and April 2018, claiming it was ‘unacceptable’ and ‘not good enough’.

At a review hearing in 2023, Dr Wolverson said he had never asked any other patients to remove their veils in the years he practiced before his suspension and that ‘there was no repeat of his bad behaviour’.

He said he had been reflecting on events since his suspension in October 2022, considering how he would have handled similar situations differently and was “deeply saddened by the comments patients made in their medical notes.”

He told the court: ‘With such serious shortcomings in the NHS, it would be completely wrong to continue with the suspension and ban a doctor from doing his duty to his patients.’

Dr Wolverson said at the time: ‘I am trained in medical ethics, Honesty and Integrity.’

The tribunal found that Dr Wolverson ‘did not give sufficient evidence of his increased insight into his actions’ and therefore ‘his fitness to practice continues to be impaired by his misconduct’.

The court decided not to extend the suspension but decided to extend the registration requirement for another 12 months.

He continued to work during his suspension and defied “clear advice” given to him by a misconduct panel

He later returned to supervised work due to ‘serious shortcomings in the NHS’.

However, in 2024, it was revealed that he was working as a deputy while he was suspended from duty in 2022.

Now a court has found he had completely ‘lost touch’ with the process and the consequences of his misconduct.

The court decided that there was a risk of recurrence and that the case should be dismissed.

Emma Gilberthorpe, who chaired the GP Tribunal Service hearing, said: ‘In considering sanction the tribunal reminded itself of the nature of the misconduct and Dr Wolverson’s continuing lack of insight and improvement.’

He added: ‘The court noted that Dr Wolverson has not worked since 2022. This was a real concern in terms of deskilling. There was no evidence that he kept his knowledge and skills up to date.

‘The longer he failed to engage in the regulatory process, the greater this risk became.

‘While the initial allegation did not in itself constitute the current risk to patient safety, his continued lack of enforcement and disinterest meant that the risk had now developed and increased over time.

‘The court was of the view that Dr Wolverson had breached the public trust by his continued failure and long absences from office.

‘The public will expect assurance that such concerns have been addressed and in the absence of any evidence of intervention or improvement, this confidence is diminished.

‘Dr Wolverson had failed to use previous periods of suspension constructively, remained indifferent throughout the process, and demonstrated a persistent and blatant disregard for the regulatory process record.

‘The court found that any less severe sanction would fail to address the existing and ongoing risks to the protection of the public and Dr. He concluded that it would not adequately reflect the seriousness of Wolverson’s misconduct.’