Two doctors who ran a private nursing home in which 16 people died in circumstances prompting "serious concerns" face disciplinary proceedings before the General Medical Council today amid fresh allegations of lax procedures and inadequate care.
The Guardian has learned how health and social care professionals officials reacted to a catalogue of incidents and omissions at Maypole Nursing home in Birmingham. Documents show they discovered three alleged cases of abuse, one involving a nurse who was recorded as having slapped and hit a female resident. In other incidents, one resident received scalds to the inner thigh and another sustained extensive bruising. The review found "poor standards" of medical notes for many of those who died.
Investigators were unable to ascertain from the records what treatments had been administered to residents who were often frail, confused and ill. In at least one case they were unable to find out how or when the cause of death was established.
The Maypole, which closed at the end of March 2003, was run by Jamalapuram Hari Gopal and his wife, Pratury Samrajya Lakshmi. While running the Maypole, Dr Hari Gopal also acted as a GP to the residents there, a dual responsibility frowned upon by the GMC. Both doctors have rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing.
The review team, comprising health officials, police and social services, examined 26 deaths at the 36-bed nursing home in 2002. Of those, 17 involved bronchopneumonia and two became the subject of police investigations, although no further action followed. In three cases, the reviewers found the causes of death recorded as "unsatisfactory".
The Guardian first revealed concerns about the Maypole last year, when Aiden Cotter, the Birmingham coroner, was asked to formally review 16 of the deaths. Seven nurses employed by the Maypole are now being investigated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
After an initial review, officials concluded that while there was no suggestion that residents had been harmed deliberately, some patients were not given "the appropriate drugs, at the appropriate dosage, at the appropriate times".
Today's GMC hearing will consider allegations that Dr Gopal and Dr Lakshmi "behaved in a manner that was inappropriate, irresponsible, inadequate, not in the best interests of his patients and not in the best interests of the residents of a nursing home".
