The UK medical regulator has apologised to doctors it struck off or pursued for “engaging in consensual sexual activity and intimacy with other men”. 

The General Medical Council (GMC) made the statement after a review found the watchdog had initiated fitness to practise proceedings against at least 40 male doctors over their sexuality.

While some the historic cases dated back more than a hundred years, it still found that doctors were being targeted as recently as 1994.

Eight of the 40 male doctors were subsequently struck off according to the review carried out by a GMC archivist with the help of the regulator’s LGBTQ+ staff networks.