A former Shellharbour GP began sexual relations with a patient after counselling the woman and her husband about their troubled marriage, the NSW Medical Tribunal was told yesterday.The tribunal heard it was the second female patient with whom Dr Robert Sims, once colloquially known in the area as the "travel doctor", had had a sexual relationship with, the first occurring in the Shellharbour practice in 1986.The Health Care and Complaints Commission (HCCC) has brought a raft of complaints against the 60-year-old doctor, including charges of professional misconduct and inappropriate conduct. He also faces complaints that he prescribed excessive amounts of restricted drugs and drugs of addiction, and breached therapeutic guidelines when prescribing them to up to 15 patients.Dr Sims, who moved his general practice to Kangaroo Valley four years ago, did not appear at the tribunal sitting in Sydney yesterday.Counsel for the HCCC, Kate Eastman, told the tribunal that although he had been asked to attend, he had refused saying he was unwilling to be cross-examined on his written evidence to the hearing.She said Dr Sims had taken himself off the general practitioner register on June 1 and had made a number of admissions in relation to the sexual relationships and the prescribing of schedule 4 and schedule 8 drugs.Complaints relating to his inappropriate prescription methods had been brought by the commission after a review of pharmacies in the Shellharbour area by the Pharmaceutical Services Board.Ms Eastman said the first woman patient, described as Patient A, was initially treated by Dr Sims in July, 1983, and he had started a sexual relationship with her by September, 1986.The second female patient , known as Patient B, was first treated by the doctor as a 17-year-old, who then moved out of the area but returned in 1990 with a husband and three children.She said Dr Sims began counselling the couple for a number of years over problems they were experiencing in their marriage.In April 1995, he started a sexual relationship with Patient B.The tribunal has reserved its decision.