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The Office of Public Prosecutions has told the alleged victims that a special hearing in the County Court can make only a qualified finding of guilt that does not amount to a conviction.

Dr Kyriacou is unlikely to be jailed if found responsible,but could be sent for supervision at Thomas Embling Hospital.

The former GP faces 34 charges,including three of rape,related to 15 women who allege he sexually assaulted them between 1978 and 2004 while they were medically examined.

But at least 51 women have provided statements to detectives at Box Hill sexual offences and child abuse investigation team,who are expected to lay dozens of additional charges.

Dr Kyriacou worked for decades as a GP at a Barkers Road clinic until 2017,when he voluntarily withdrew from the register of medical practitioners while under investigation by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

He denied the allegations of misconduct when they were first put to him in 2016.

Former patients,who allege they were sexually assaulted during consultations with Dr Kyriacou,are disgusted by AHPRA's handling of the matter and the agency's failure to immediately notify police when the investigation began.

Several have accused the medical industry watchdog of protecting the reputation of doctors and the broader medical industry at the expense of patients'interests and safety.

Many of the alleged victims have been contacted over the past week by support staff from the Office of Public Prosecutions,who also warned about long delays in the judicial process.

"To find out the case against Kyriacou will likely not be heard until sometime in 2021 is enormously frustrating. It does make you question whether the exhausting process is worth the emotional turmoil,that me and I'm sure the other women are experiencing on a daily basis,"a former patient of Dr Kyriacou toldThe Age.

When Dr Kyriacou made his court appearance in January,he appeared frail and required a walking frame.

Outside court,the 76-year-old described the charges against him as"stupid".

An assessment in March 2018 by psychiatrist Dr Peter McArdle concluded that Dr Kyriacou was"not cognitively well enough to brief his solicitor nor be a capable witness in court".

"When I quizzed him about the allegations he initially said that he couldn't remember any of these people or the allegations and he denied them altogether.

"When I said to him could he remember anything he said if I do anything like that I regret it. I said did you do anything like that? And he said no,"Dr McArdle wrote in a letter to Dr Kyriacou's lawyer.

Dr McArdle said a cognitive examination of Dr Kyriacou revealed signs of a"frontal lobe impairment".

A further direction hearing will be held in the County Court on September 18.

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