However, the same tribunal has disqualified a nurse for five years for failing to inform his employer that his criminal record contained drugs charges before starting his job.

Terence Williams, 41, was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault after sticking his finger in the rectum of a female patient complaining of a sore foot.

British-born Williams was de-registered in November 2011 following the complaint and sentenced to four months' jail, wholly suspended, in Launceston Supreme Court last year.

Williams had pleaded not guilty.

During the trial the jury heard the victim had sought treatment for a sore heel.

On her second appointment Williams placed his ungloved fingers in her rectum after pulling down her pants.

He did so without offering any explanation.

Williams' excuse was that the idea for the probe came from a conversation with his girlfriend who said her GP had examined her rectum due to a sore foot.

He told the jury the thought "popped into his head inconveniently" as he was examining the patient.

The Podiatry Board of Australia took Williams to the Tasmanian Health Practitioners Tribunal earlier this year seeking a ban of up to five years.

In a decision published this week the tribunal said Williams' behaviour amounted to professional misconduct, however, it noted the sexual assault was not "'premeditated or repetitious and apparently it was not motivated by sexual gratification, but rather inexperience and poor judgment".

The tribunal ordered he be deregistered for three years backdated to November 2011.

Meanwhile, David Lance Lahey was struck off the nurses register for five years for failing to tell his employer he'd been charged with possession of forged prescriptions prior to employment.

The tribunal said the conduct of Lahey, who did not appear at the tribunal, was "unacceptable".