A GP recently charged by police with the rape of a patient 19 years ago is free to return to practice after a tribunal declared he posed no serious threat to the public.

In January, the Medical Board of Australia suspended the doctor when it was told the former patient had contacted police last year claiming he had been assaulted during a consultation back in 2001.

The board relied on section 156(1) of the National Law, which gives it the power to immediately suspend practitioners if it believes it necessary to protect patient safety or maintain public confidence in health services.

However, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal said the GP, who was deregistered for two years in 2014 for sexual misconduct with two other patients in 2008 and 2011, should be allowed to treat patients pending the outcome of any criminal trial or formal medical board hearing.