Ben Shillitoe

Today, an independent tribunal of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service has suspended Dr Sarah Benn’s registration for a period of five months. Dr Benn was referred to a tribunal because in 2022, she breached several court orders, which amounted to contempt of court, and as a result, she received a custodial sentence. This referral was not about Dr Benn’s right to protest about climate change. Our website has more information about this case and our media statement: gmc-uk.org/news/news-arch… Like all citizens, doctors have the right to express their personal opinions on any issue, including climate change. There is nothing in our guidance to prevent doctors from doing so, or from exercising their right to lobby government and campaign on issues, including taking part in protests. The threat of climate change is very real and we understand why this case has created strong interest from doctors and the public. However, our fitness to practise investigations consider cases which are referred to us and where doctors have broken the law, not their motivations for doing so. It’s not the role of regulators to determine UK law - that is a matter for parliament. Patients and the public rightly have a high degree of trust in doctors and that trust can be eroded if doctors repeatedly do not comply with the law.