A plastic surgeon accused of botching surgery on dozens of women has removed his name from the medical register.

David Herbert, 62, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, took the action days before he was due to appear before the General Medical Council (GMC).

Mr Herbert, who worked in Cambridgeshire, Nottingham, London and Preston, had been suspended from practising as a doctor since August 2000.

This month he was due to go before a GMC panel to put his case, but his decision to remove his name from the register means this hearing will not now go ahead.

Patient's relief

On Wednesday, the GMC told BBC News Online that Mr Herbert had exercised his right to take his name off the register on 4 April.

It means that he cannot undertake to perform any kind of medical practice within the UK.

He could apply to have his name restored to the register, but he would have to get the agreement of the GMC panel which had suspended him.

A patient of the surgeon expressed relief at the news.

Kirsten Bryant suffered necrosis, a condition in which the skin dies, following a tummy tuck and liposuction in September 1998.

She said: "I have been very badly scarred.

"I refuse to undress in front of my husband, I can't wear the clothes I want to wear and, of course, mentally it does affect you."

Mr Herbert is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and a co-founder of the British Association of Cosmetic Surgeons.