GPs guilty over nursing home care

Dr Gopal and his wife were found guilty of several allegations

A husband and wife GP team who ran a private nursing home have been found guilty of failings which left residents living in inadequate conditions.

Some wandered around half-dressed at the Maypole home, Birmingham, the General Medical Council (GMC) heard.

Dr Jamalapuram Hari Gopal and his wife Dr Pratury Samrajya Lakshmi had to close the home for elderly, mentally infirm patients in March 2003.

The GMC will decide if they are guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Doctors cleared

The pair were forced to shut the home after an unannounced inspection which prompted the then National Care Standards Commission to raise "serious concerns".

A GMC panel found the couple guilty of a string of allegations relating to the care of elderly residents.

They included failing to ensure that the privacy and dignity of residents was respected, providing patients with the standard of practice and care required of registered medical practitioners and ensuring the home was kept clean.

It was also alleged that patients were restrained in "bucket" chairs, but both doctors were cleared of the charge that they failed to ensure residents were not subject to physical restraint.

'No crimes'

Following the inspection officials were concerned by figures showing that 28 residents died between 2002 and 2003 with up to 16 believed to have raised particular concerns.

But earlier this month, Birmingham coroner Aiden Cotter, who investigated 13 deaths at the home during 2002, said he would not hold inquests.

Mr Cotter said he had found no evidence which would justify inquests, but added that the home was not run as well as it could have been.

West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have also both said there was no evidence of crimes being committed at the home.