Family find, nicknamed the ‘dirty doctor’ after having sex with six women at his GP surgery, ‘now works as a psychotherapist under a different alias’

A GP dubbed the ‘dirty doctor’ after he had sex with several women in his practice and was kicked out has reportedly become a therapist under a different name.

He is just one case of a doctor who has been disbarred by the GMC but is still able to practice as a therapist, taking advantage of a loophole in the law, and reports.

Dr Thomas Plimmer, 40, who studied at Cambridge University and appeared on Channel 4’s First Dates in 2018, was struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC) earlier this year.

The GP from Swindon, Essex, had sex with six different women in his surgery and was also caught having sex with himself in the surgery.

He is now understood to be practicing as a psychotherapist under the middle name Matthew.

Plimmer claimed at a misconduct hearing in April that although he had destroyed lives by “lying and cheating”, he was now a reformed man who had returned to God.

But he was hit, however, after it was heard he had sex with six different women – who were not his patients – while members of the public waited outside to see him.

He showed a younger female colleague an unsolicited video of him and one of the women having sex and put her hand on his penis through his clothes.

Plimmer sent almost 200 sexual images to a colleague and told another he should kill himself. He claimed during the hearing that he is an untreated sex addict.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) concluded that Dr Plimmer’s “pattern of sexually motivated behaviour” was “deplorable” and “brings the medical profession into disrepute”.

Since being struck off, Plimmer has reinvented himself as a psychotherapist under the name Dr Thomas Matthew, making no reference to being struck off the medical register.

His website describes his business – ‘Mind, Body and Emotional Wellness’ – with blog posts dating back to August 2022. Plimmer offers sessions for £85 each.

He says online: “I qualified as a doctor in 2007, working in various areas of medicine and then became a GP in 2012, a role I have worked in for over a decade. I am now dedicated to helping people through MBE Wellness, full-time, without working as a registered medical practitioner.

“Throughout my medical career I have met thousands of patients who were struggling with daily existence, who felt unfulfilled, who kept making the same ‘mistakes’ and felt helpless. Including myself, as someone recovering from addiction.

“Having witnessed this for years, I decided there must be more to life than survival. So, I chose to dedicate my time to studying and practicing a holistic mind, body and emotional approach.’

The therapy industry is not as tightly regulated as the drug industry, meaning that although therapists can be struck off registers such as the BACP, there is no law preventing them from continuing to practise, or preventing struck-off doctors from becoming therapists. .

While many sign up to voluntary regulation through the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), therapists do not need to be members of any organisation.

An investigation revealed that other therapists still practicing included a man who had sex with two vulnerable clients and drugged them, even turning up to sessions drunk.

Therapist and campaigner Amanda Williamson said the findings demonstrated “a clear problem of the disparity between mental and physical health”.

“If a doctor whose medical license has been taken away, why is it okay to treat people for mental health?

“That’s why we need the state to regulate psychotherapy and counseling so that there are rules that govern everyone who works as a therapist – and anyone who’s been disbarred can’t continue to treat psychotherapy clients, whether they’ve been disbarred as doctor or as a doctor. a therapist.’

Dr Plimmer said he takes patient safety “very seriously” and that none of the allegations against him as a doctor relate to his own patients.

He added that he had completed a “professional boundaries course” and the misconduct panel found his “risk to patients to be low”.

The misconduct panel concluded Dr Plimmer was guilty of seven complaints he denied, but others were not proven.