A doctor has been charged with sexually assaulting 38 patients while working at major hospitals in the West Midlands, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

Nathaniel Spencer, 38, of Quinton in Birmingham, is charged with 15 counts of sexual assault; 17 counts of assault by penetration; nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13; three counts of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and one count of attempting to assault by penetration, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

The charges follow what Staffordshire Police called a “complex investigation” into alleged sexual offences at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, in Stoke, and Russells Hall Hospital, in Dudley – said to have taken place between 2017 and 2021.

He is due to appear at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre on January 20.