'Aggressive' doctor who told a young girl to remove her face mask during a foot appointment is struck off

An 'aggressive' and 'disrespectful' doctor who gave a teenage girl 'inappropriate' dietary advice and told her to remove her face mask during a verrucae appointment has been struck off. Gary Denby told the 13-year-old to 'take your mask off and answer my question or I won't be able to treat you' and then emailed her mother after the consultation to say her daughter needed to eat her 'five-a-day'.The podiatrist also tried to 'impose his own view' on face coverings and 'bombarded' the child with questions about human physiology during the appointment on July 28, 2021, a tribunal heard. Mr Denby, a former Ukip councillor, ran the Foot Wise Podiatry clinic in Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire, for more than 20 years. But he has now been banned from the profession after he was found to have 'created an obvious risk of harm' to the 'nervous' patient and her mother, the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) has ruled. Two days after the consultation, the girl's mother accused Mr Denby of having an 'unusually aggressive and disrespectful attitude' towards her daughter in a complaint to the professional body.She alleged: 'He did not give any attention to her feet choosing to bombard her with questions and berating her.'The misconduct panel heard that when the girl's mother answered a question on her daughter's behalf, Mr Denby said to the patient: 'You said that without opening your mouth!' Podiatrist Gary Denby has been struck off after acting 'aggressively' and 'disrespectfully' to a 13-year-old girl during an appointment for a verrucaeHe is also alleged to have said: 'Take your mask off and answer my question or I won't be able to treat you.' However, the doctor suggested he had been subjected to an 'unjust or malicious' accusation. Mr Denby, who described the hearing as a 'complete waste of my time', said the patient should remove her face mask, while not wearing one himself, against health guidance at the time of the appointment, during the Covid-19 pandemic. The tribunal ruled that he 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', adding that his failure to wear a mask created an 'obvious risk of harm' to the mother and daughter. The mother also alleged that Mr Denby offered the girl 'inappropriate' dietary advice, which the tribunal described as 'unnecessary and erroneous', despite the appointment being made to treat the patient's verrucae. The doctor wrote in his notes from the appointment: 'Too nervous to treat or answer questions, which might gain buy-in to an improved diet and an immune response.'Would not remove mask (hiding?), became tearful. White coat fear? Would not answer with own knowledge, mother intervening (red blood cells...). 'Unable to gain informed consent. Too nervous to treat with cryotherapy. Mother removed daughter from surgery.'He added: 'I advised mother that we need an improved diet to gain a better immune ability, then we may try some different treatments to encourage a specific immune response against the warts. 'May return when more composed? NEEDS to improve diet (25% fruit & green vegetables for immunity; 25% dairy for height, bone density and growth; 25% animal protein for muscle development) and then warts may resolve? You are what you eat.'In an email to the teenager's mother, he said: 'From the report, you provided the most likely key to the warts' persistence: a poor diet. My concern for (Service User A) that she may also be limiting her dairy-calcium intake, which is VERY necessary at her age for normal height and bone density development. 'We did not get this far, before (Service User A) became tearful, from my simple and purposeful questioning. 'An approach you may try with regards providing (Service User A) with a more diverse diet (five-a-day fruit and veg is difficult for the best of us!), is to mix favourite with new. 'Eg: Tomatoes and courgettes; mint and potatoes; grated cheese and cucumber... As teenagers develop, so do their taste buds (less sweet) and their appreciation of texture. 'Their brains need direction and encouragement to be experimental, to find this out for themselves.'According to the tribunal, the podiatrist's conduct was 'sufficiently serious for a finding that the misconduct threshold had been crossed'. Mr Denby wrote an email to the mother the next day after the appointment apologising for causing any distress from his behaviour. However in a separate email – believed to have been sent to the HCPTS – just days before the hearing took place, he referred to her as an 'impatient mother'. It was subsequently found that he 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', according to tribunal documents. However, in an email to the HCPTS before the tribunal, Mr Denby described the hearing as a 'complete waste of my time' as he had retired and does not intend to return to work.He wrote: 'A review is a complete waste of my time and of HCPC resources. I retired seven months ago. 'My case back in February 2026 was a similar waste. No one with decision-making powers ever reads my file - they keep on with the same old accusations, without taking account of my detailed explanations. 'My file just keeps growing into hundreds of pages, which no-one has time to read. It's all from so long ago, no-one remembers the situation in any detailed accuracy.' Mr Denby also accused the body of 'failing repeatedly in its obligation to protect the patient from harmful practice and the registered practitioner from unjust or malicious accusation'.The HCPTS has now ruled that it is 'proportionate' for Mr Denby to be struck off. Do YOU have a story? Email William.G.Hallowell@dailymail.co.uk