Ex-Blackpool Victoria Hospital doctor struck off by General Medical Council after allegedly raping young woman

A former doctor at Blackpool Vic found by a tribunal to have raped a young woman has been struck off.

Dr Aloaye Foy-Yamah was working at the resort hospital as a consultant in acute medicine, when the alleged attack took place at his home in 2018. Police did not charge him but the Medical Tribunal Practitioners Service (MPTS) concluded on the balance of probabilities that he had raped the woman, despite his denial.

The General Medical Council (GMC) had demanded Dr Foy-Yamah is completely erased from the medical register. However, last year, the MPTS described the incident as a one-off and instead suspended his medical licence for 12 months.

The tribunal was accused of victim blaming and not properly assessing the doctor's risk to young women and the GMC appealed the decision.

The GMC took the case to the High Court, saying it was "deeply uncomfortable with the victim blaming narrative from the tribunal and considered the determination lacked a proper assessment of the seriousness of the misconduct".

However, now Dr Foy-Yamah has been struck off following the GMC's successful appeal and the MPTS has erased him from the medical register.

At the original hearing in 2024/25, the MPTS said: "The tribunal was satisfied that, in the circumstances of the case, it is inconceivable that Dr Foy-Yamah would repeat the behaviour which led to the finding of serious misconduct ever again.

"It was an isolated incident with a person who had entered his life and who had captured his imagination to the extent that he developed a sexual interest in her."

The tribunal was told the doctor and victim knew each other. It heard she was lying on a sofa when the doctor began making sexual advances. The panel was told he then raped her.

Following the MPTS's original decision not to strike off Dr Foy-Yamah, Judge Mr Justice Ritchie said the determination by the panel that Dr Foy-Yamah posed no risk to women in the future was made without "logical foundation".

He said: "It is clear that there are substantial risks to any woman who may become friendly with Dr Foy outside work, and may then go back to his house and lead him to feel aroused." The judge ruled, following the GMC appeal: "The panel was wrong in its findings on risk and impairment on public protection grounds and hence the sanction needs to be reconsidered."

Mr Justice Ritchie added: "His denial at the hearing was part of his right to defend himself but his lack of any insight and remediation gave the panel no room to feel secure that his disgraceful and dangerous behaviour would never happen again."

The MPTS accepted the doctor had shown "no evidence of remediation or insight" following his suspension. In deciding to strike off Dr Foy-Yamah, the tribunal reported there had been no "acknowledgement of fault" by the doctor and it was unable to conclude that his behaviour was "unlikely to be repeated".

A spokesman for the MPTS said: "The hearing determined that the doctor's name should be erased from the medical register. It also deemed it necessary to impose an immediate order of suspension, to cover the appeal period. This means that if a party to the hearing were to appeal, the doctor would be unable to practise during this time."

A spokesman for the GMC said: "There is no place for sexual misconduct in healthcare. We maintained that Dr Foy-Yamah posed an ongoing risk and should be struck off the medical register to protect patients and uphold confidence in the profession."