Richard Bowley

Introduction

Dr Richard Bowley is a doctor who was registered with the General Medical Council under number 4008923. On 12 June 2026, at the conclusion of a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) substantive hearing that had run from 8 to 12 June 2026, the tribunal directed that his name be erased from the Medical Register — the sanction commonly described as being struck off. The decision followed findings that he had dishonestly claimed payments under an income protection insurance policy on the basis that ill health left him unable to work as a GP, while he was in fact working as a locum GP at two practices. The tribunal also reviewed an existing suspension arising from his unlawful access to a colleague’s medical records.

Background Information

According to the determination, Bowley worked as a locum GP at Brent Area Medical Centre between 26 January 2022 and 6 October 2023, and, on one or more occasions between July and August 2023, at Cheddar Medical Practice. During and after that period he was claiming payments under an income protection insurance policy on the premise that he had not worked since October 2020 and could not work as a GP because of his health.

He was, in addition, already subject to regulatory sanction: a suspension imposed in March 2025 for unlawfully accessing a colleague’s medical records, which was continued in November 2025. It was this accumulated history — the income protection claims and the earlier suspension — that came before the June 2026 tribunal.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. These are regulatory findings by an MPTS tribunal on the civil standard, not criminal convictions; no criminal prosecution is recorded in the determination. The dishonesty findings rest on the tribunal’s assessment of the claim forms and his working record.

The central allegation concerned a claim form. The GMC alleged that on 13 June 2024 Bowley submitted a Continuing Claim Form to his income protection insurer stating that he had not undertaken any work between October 2020 and June 2024, and that his health had prevented him from working as a GP since October 2020, in order to claim payments under the policy. It was further alleged that he completed the form in this way knowing that he had in fact worked, knowing that his health had not prevented him from working as a GP, and that his actions were dishonest. Throughout the period covered by the allegation he had been working as a locum GP at Brent Area Medical Centre and, in July to August 2023, at Cheddar Medical Practice.

The tribunal found all paragraphs of the allegation proved. It determined that Bowley had made false declarations on his continuing claim form when he knew he had been working and was fit to work, and that, judged by the standards of ordinary decent people, this was dishonest. It found his fitness to practise impaired by reason of misconduct, and placed the dishonesty at the higher end of seriousness because it was deliberate, planned and involved significant sums claimed while he was acting as a doctor.

The tribunal also reviewed the earlier suspension for unlawfully accessing a colleague’s medical records — imposed in March 2025 and continued in November 2025. Finding no evidence of insight or remediation, and continued non-engagement with the regulatory process, it held that his fitness to practise remained impaired in that matter too, with a high ongoing risk to public protection.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The published determination records the regulator’s findings rather than press coverage or public commentary, and no public statements by Bowley are recorded in it. Its practical consequences, however, are unambiguous: erasure means he is no longer permitted to practise medicine in the United Kingdom, and the tribunal’s characterisation of his conduct — dishonesty at the higher end of seriousness, deliberate and planned — removes the usual mitigation that a single lapse might attract. The finding of continued non-engagement and the assessed high ongoing risk to public protection weighed decisively against any lesser sanction.

Current Status

As determined on 12 June 2026, Richard Bowley is erased from the Medical Register and is struck off. Erasure is otherwise indefinite, although it can be reviewed after a minimum of five years. No conditions, warnings or undertakings apply in place of the erasure; removal from the register is the operative sanction.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The erasure ends Bowley’s ability to work as a doctor in the UK. He progressed from suspension — imposed in March 2025 and continued in November 2025 for unlawfully accessing a colleague’s medical records — to removal from the register entirely in June 2026, after the tribunal found dishonest income protection claims proved and no insight, remediation or engagement with the process. Because the dishonesty was found to be deliberate, planned and to involve significant sums claimed while acting as a doctor, and because a high ongoing risk to public protection was assessed, the tribunal concluded that only erasure would suffice.

Sources

• MedicWatch, “Richard Bowley — Struck off the register · 12 June 2026”, 12 June 2026.source