A ROSYTH doctor who groped a midwife’s leg at a Christmas party will be allowed to practise again at the end of the month.

Married dad-of-two Dr Michael Ross, who works part-time as a GP at Primrose Lane Medical Centre, was suspended by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service for six months last summer.

At a hearing on February 3, he was told that his fitness to practise was no longer impaired after the tribunal service was satisfied that he was “unlikely to repeat his conduct”.

His suspension will be lifted after February 26.

A former colleague of Dr Ross told the Press that patients should have a right to know whether he will be coming back to work at Primrose Lane Medical Centre.

However, the GP surgery has not responded to our calls to confirm if he will be working there after February 26.

Dr Ross was with a group of colleagues at the Hanover Tap pub in Edinburgh when he put his hand up and down the inner thigh of the shocked woman he was sat next to.

The woman fled the party in December 2016 after calling her husband to collect her.

Despite apologising for his behaviour, the doctor groped her leg three months later saying: “We have to look after your legs” as they were moving her desk in their shared office.

The midwife, named only as Miss A, claimed that she was “felt up by a disgusting guy” adding he twice stroked her back on other occasions.

She claimed the doctor made her “skin crawl”.

Ross, 44, who worked as a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Medical Education (CME) with the midwife until he was dismissed in 2017, denied any wrongdoing.

He was faced with being struck off last summer but he was allowed to keep his job after careful regard to testimonials portraying the doctor as a man of good character.

Dr Ross continues to deny that his actions were sexually-motivated, his counsel said.

Papers from the hearing stated: “He accepts that Miss A’s beliefs were genuinely and honestly held, and his denial does not mean that his fitness to practise must remain impaired.

“The steps Dr Ross has taken over the last six months have reduced the risk of repetition to such an extent that the chances of him behaving inappropriately again are no more than any other person, and indeed less likely as a result of his experience.”

On behalf of the General Medical Council, Victoria Gainza invited the tribunal to consider whether Dr Ross had developed sufficient insight into his misconduct, submitting he still appeared to suggest that there may have been a misunderstanding of his behaviour by Miss A rather than full acceptance of the 2019 tribunal’s findings.

Dr Ross sent a reflective document to the tribunal service last month, a letter of apology to Miss A and the University of Edinburgh and various testimonials were heard.

A statement read: “This tribunal concluded that, despite his continuing denial that his actions were sexually-motivated, Dr Ross has undertaken a considerable amount of work to demonstrate that his insight has increased.

"He has acknowledged his faults and has taken the opportunity to persuade the tribunal that he now understands how his behaviour impacted upon Miss A.

"Dr Ross has done all that can be reasonably expected of him and there is no basis upon which the tribunal could conclude that his fitness to practise remains impaired.”