Doctor advises medical students to act less gay
Dr Una Coales, who is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), made the comments in her book advising students on how to pass the Clinical Skills Assessment.
In the book Dr Coales writes: "One candidate was facing a third sitting and yet no one had told him that his mannerisms, gait and speech were too overtly gay, and that he was sitting an exam administered by a right-wing conservative Royal College.
"So I advised him to lower and deepen his high-pitched voice and neutralise the body movements and walk like a straight man."
In another passage she advises Asian and Nigerian trainees to emphasise the "lyrical" Welsh or Scottish accent if taking exams in those countries.
Dr Coles told the Independent that she was not suggesting that the college was homophobic or racist.
The RCGP has distanced itself from Dr Coles' comments, and Neil Hunt, its Chief Executive said: "The RCGP does not endorse the book, the author did not write it in her capacity as a member of the RCGP, and we reject the advice given.
"We take equality and diversity extremely seriously and through our examiner and role-player training and quality assurance programmes aim to ensure that no candidate is discriminated against on any grounds."
Mr Hunt has now referred Dr Coles to the college's board of senior officers.
