Anthony Dixon

Introduction

Anthony Dixon, known professionally as Tony Dixon, was a consultant colorectal surgeon in Bristol whose name stood on the General Medical Council (GMC) register under number 2805726. On 6 August 2025, at the end of a hearing that had run since 16 June, a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) tribunal found his fitness to practise impaired by misconduct and directed that he be erased from the medical register. The tribunal found he had operated on patients without informed consent — including at least one operation that was not clinically indicated — and had dishonestly fabricated patient records. Lawyers for more than 100 of his former patients welcomed the erasure as long overdue.

Background Information

Dixon’s last appointment was as a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Frenchay Hospital, to which he was appointed in May 1996. He obtained his MBBS in 1983, became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1987, and was awarded FRCS England ad eundem in 2012. He was an Honorary Reader in Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Surgery at the University of Bristol, sat on the council of his subspecialty professional association (ACPGBI) from 2008 to 2016, and was founder and inaugural chairman of the Pelvic Floor Society from 2013 to 2016. The conduct at issue centred on pelvic mesh procedures carried out on women at Southmead Hospital in Bristol and the private Spire Hospital.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings below come from a Medical Practitioners Tribunal determination, which decides allegations on the balance of probabilities. They are regulatory findings, not criminal convictions; no criminal charge arising from this conduct appears in the record this page draws on.

The tribunal found that Dixon operated on patients without informed consent across his NHS and private practice, and that one of the operations considered was not clinically indicated — meaning there was no valid medical reason to suggest or offer the surgery in the first place. It further found he had dishonestly fabricated patient records. The Thompsons Solicitors account of the determination states he was found to have “knowingly concocted” false clinical notes to mislead investigations and legal proceedings, with the tribunal describing the dishonesty as “premeditated and sustained” and noting he had shown no meaningful insight into the consequences of his actions.

Two hospital reviews had already mapped the scale of the problem before the tribunal concluded. Southmead Hospital found that 203 of the mesh operations Dixon performed had been unnecessary, with non-surgical treatments that should have been offered instead. In 2024, Spire Hospital in Bristol published a review of his private practice that identified 259 cases in which harm had been caused, including failures to properly investigate patients before surgery, failures to offer alternative or conservative treatments, and poor consenting practices.

The tribunal directed erasure on 6 August 2025, the culmination of two separate professional tribunals finding surgery without informed consent. The published MPTS-facing record confirms the outcome — impairment found, erasure directed — while the hospitals’ own reviews supply the case’s scale.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The reaction from his former patients’ legal representatives was unambiguous. Linda Millband, national head of clinical negligence group actions at Thompsons Solicitors, which has acted for more than 100 women affected by Dixon’s surgery, said: “We welcome the tribunal’s decision to strike Anthony Dixon off the register. Whilst it’s disappointing that it has taken this long, we are pleased that his conduct has finally been recognised for what it was.” She added: “Anthony Dixon should never be allowed to practise medicine again.” The firm stated it had already successfully settled over 100 cases against Spire and was bringing a further 15 claims against the NHS. Millband said the figures demonstrated “the sheer extent of the harm caused by Anthony Dixon over the course of his career”.

Bristol law firm Barcan and Kirby, which also acted for former patients, reported the strike-off under the headline that he had left “more than 200 patients in agony”. The published record contains no public statement from Dixon himself responding to the erasure.

Current Status

Dixon is struck off the UK medical register, erased by direction of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service on 6 August 2025. His MedicWatch record notes the determination explains when the direction takes effect and what appeal provisions apply, and directs readers to the official register for his current registration status. The published record shows no appeal and no restoration application. A scientific journal on which he had been corresponding author issued a notification in 2025 recording that he had been removed from the UK Medical Register on 6 August 2025 and flagging concerns about the legitimacy of the data reported in that publication, agreed to alert readers following concerns raised regarding the data and allegations of a lack of informed consent from patients who underwent the surgical procedure reported within it.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Erasure ends Dixon’s ability to practise medicine in the United Kingdom and formally undoes a career that had reached the top of his specialty — consultant, honorary university reader, professional-association council member and founder-chairman of the Pelvic Floor Society. Civil liability continues independently of the erasure: more than 100 settled claims against his private employer and further claims in progress against the NHS mean the financial and reputational consequences of his surgery remain live years after the operations. The published record contains no information about his circumstances since the strike-off, and nothing on this page should be read as going beyond it.

Sources

• *MedicWatch, “Anthony Dixon — Struck off the register · 6 August 2025” — source
• *Barcan and Kirby Solicitors, “Bristol surgeon Anthony Dixon struck off”, 7 August 2025 — source
• *Thompsons Solicitors, “Medical Register Erasure ‘Long Overdue’, Say Lawyers for Dixon’s Former Patients”, 8 August 2025 — source