A highly regarded Wangaratta doctor has been found to have inappropriately touched seven young female colleagues during his time as a supervisor at Northeast Health Wangaratta. Leslie Bolitho faced a Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal hearing on 4 and 5 September where the tribunal of three found Dr Bolitho had failed to maintain professional boundaries and behaviours. The allegations involved staring, inappropriate touching on seven female colleagues’ backs, shoulders, legs, bottoms and one doctor’s breast. Findings released on 28 November heard the Medical Board of Australia conducted an investigation into Dr Bolitho’s alleged conduct in 2019. In March 2020, the Sexual Boundaries Committee of the board banned Dr Bolitho from practicing in a public or private hospital until the matter was resolved. He retired as a visiting medical officer at Northeast Health Wangaratta in August 2020, where he had worked since 1983. The victims were female junior medical practitioners undertaking various levels of training on rotation from the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Northeast Health Wangaratta. One doctor said Dr Bolitho would regularly place his hand on her lower back or upper bottom, for prolonged periods, such as when walking between rooms. On one occasion she was seated on a bench when Dr Bolitho approached her from the front and threaded his arm under hers, touching her breast as he reached for a folder. “When this happened I was shocked,” she said. “Dr Bolitho was incredibly close to me and at no point ever has another person in my professional career, has someone thought it was appropriate to slip their hand underneath my arm to grab a folder.” She also recalled being shoulder massaged by Dr Bolitho while sitting at a computer. Another doctor recalled Dr Bolitho placing his hand on her thigh while seated at a table during a work farewell dinner. A third doctor said Dr Bolitho touched her bottom about six to eight times as he would walk past her in the workplace. “This collection of inappropriate behaviours felt like sexual harassment,” she said. A fourth doctor said she was made to feel uncomfortable as Dr Bolitho wrapped his arm around her lower/upper bottom region while reviewing results from a desk in the Critical Care Unit. Three other doctors recalled multiple instances of being touched on the lower back and shoulders by Dr Bolitho at the hospital. Giving evidence at the hearing, Dr Bolitho denied any touching of sensitive parts was deliberate or with an intention to engage in sexually or otherwise improper or inappropriate contact. He couldn’t recall many of the allegations and wrote he was from a generation where such incidental physical contact was more common than it is now. The tribunal found the allegations made by the seven doctors proven and listed the matter for an administrative mention on 22 January, 2026. Dr Bolitho is a former Associate Professor at Melbourne University, president of the Royal Australian College of Physicians and an OAM member for services as a clinician, educator and clinic researcher. He has also been recognised for championing numerous new and improved health services in the region and contributing his time freely in local health services in the North East.
