Gary Denby, a podiatrist who operated the Foot Wise Podiatry clinic in Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire, for over two decades, has been struck off the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) register. The tribunal determined that Denby created an "obvious risk of harm" to a teenage patient and her mother during a verrucae appointment on July 28, 2021.
According to the tribunal, Denby instructed the 13-year-old girl to "take your mask off and answer my question or I won't be able to treat you." This occurred despite public health guidance at the time regarding mask-wearing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tribunal found Denby was "seeking to impose his own view over what must have been obvious to him was the wish of the child to keep it in place." His failure to wear a mask himself was also cited as creating an "obvious risk of harm."
Beyond the mask incident, Denby was also found to have provided the girl with "inappropriate" and "unnecessary and erroneous" dietary advice. The appointment, intended to treat a verruca, saw Denby bombard the young patient with questions about human physiology. In his own notes, Denby described the patient as "Too nervous to treat or answer questions" and that she was "hiding" behind her mask, becoming tearful. He wrote that he was "Unable to gain informed consent" and that the mother removed her daughter from the surgery.
Following the appointment, Denby emailed the girl's mother suggesting her daughter's diet was the cause of her warts, advising that she needed to eat "five-a-day" fruit and vegetables, and emphasizing the importance of calcium for bone density. He wrote, "You are what you eat."
The girl's mother had previously complained about Denby's "unusually aggressive and disrespectful attitude," alleging he paid no attention to her daughter's feet and instead "chose to bombard her with questions and berating her."
Denby, a former Ukip councillor, reportedly described the tribunal hearing as a "complete waste of my time" and stated he had retired and did not intend to return to work. He also accused the HCPTS of "failing repeatedly in its obligation to protect the patient from harmful practice and the registered practitioner from unjust or malicious accusation."
However, the tribunal concluded that Denby had "not developed the degree of understanding that would be needed for there to be confidence that he would not repeat behaviour of the type that has been found against him." The HCPTS deemed striking him off the register to be "proportionate."