GP joked about sex change op to boost rating of his surgery

A GP has been suspended from his practice for joking about undergoing gender reassignment surgery after health officials criticised him for having no female colleagues.

Hendrik Beerstecher, 55, used a hidden device in 2016 to secretly record officials from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as they reviewed his practice in Sittingbourne, Kent.

The GP then uploaded the footage to his surgery website and accompanied it with a series of online commentaries.

In one post, Dr Beerstecher posted a sarcastic response, claiming inspectors questioned the lack of female doctors.

Referring to himself in the third person, he said: “To resolve the problem, Dr Beerstecher was going to undergo gender reassignment so that he could be female on Tuesdays and Thursdays and male on the other days to offer a choice of female GP.”

Dr Beerstecher claimed the recordings were evidence to “challenge” an “inadequate” rating for his practice.

He received the low rating for the “safety” and “well-led” categories and was told the practice required improvement within six months to avoid possibly being shut down.

At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, Louise Kitchin, a General Medical Council lawyer, accused Dr Beerstecher of being “disrespectful” to the commission. She added: “The comments [he] described as being ‘light hearted’ were offensive and critical.”

He was suspended for two months after he was described as a “caring doctor” who was “highly regarded”.