Doctor who urinated in a hospital sink is struck off medical register

A doctor has been struck off after he was caught urinating in a hospital sink twice and telling a patient she needed a CT scan 'to see if she had a brain'.

Dr Graham Holmes 'shocked' his colleagues when they caught him weeing into a sink after his morning clinic finished, a disciplinary panel heard.

The experienced doctor also said in front of a patient that a CT scan was to be carried out 'to see if she had a brain'.

He told the General Medical Council (GMC) he couldn't remember if he made that remark because his brain wasn't like 'a computer'. He did not give a response to the allegation that he urinated in a clinical sink. 

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) determined that Dr Holmes didn't even acknowledge or apologise for his 'proven serious misconduct'.

Dr Holmes, who qualified as a doctor in 1974, has now been struck off following the MPTS hearing.

He worked as a locum consultant between August 2019 and March 2021 in hospitals in Hampshire, Dorset, Greater Manchester and the Wirral.

On two separate occasions between August 22, 2019, and September 26, 2019, he was spotted urinating in the clinical sink in his consulting room at Gosport War Memorial Hospital.

He was alone in the room, but visible through an internal window to passers by in the corridor.

Staff nurse Christine Dolan said of the September 26 incident: 'As I walked past I paused as I was shocked to see through the window that looks out onto the corridor, blinds fully open, standing very close, side on to the window, by the clinic room sink, fully clothed with his penis in his hand over the sink.

'He had the tap running a cup in his other hand into which he was running water and pouring into the sink.

'He was not aware of being observed. I reported this immediately to my manager.'

Helen Stratford, a Community Nursing Sister at the hospital, realised she had seen Dr Holmes do the same thing after speaking with Ms Dolan.

She said: “I thought I had witnessed something similar some days earlier, but I could not believe my eyes as I thought I also saw Dr Holmes peeing in the sink in the consulting room he used...”

Ms Stratford was also present on August 21, 2019, when Dr Holmes said that a CT scan was needed for a patient 'to see if she's got a brain'.

The female patient, referred to as Patient A to protect her anonymity, was in her 70s and had a slight learning disability.

Patient A was sat close to Dr Holmes when he made this comment, and Ms Stratford checked in on her after the consultation.

Ms Stratford said: 'When the consultation ended, I spoke with the patient as I walked her out and asked if she was okay.

'She did not appear to have heard his remark.

'She needed to have several tests done but she did not subsequently attend.

'I was worried that we had scared her.'

The GMC asked Dr Holmes about this incident on November 7, 2023.

He called the accusation 'offensive and insulting' and claimed it was 'highly unlikely' he would have made this comment.

Dr Holmes added: 'I really do not think I would have made such suggestions and as far as I can recall, were a long time ago and my memory does not hold all the information that you have obtained, unlike a computer.

'I therefore cannot realistically recall the incidents mentioned.'

Other allegations against Dr Holmes included his failure to adhere to Covid-19 infection control protocols while working at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital in Dorset in 2020, and not wearing a mask properly while working at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan, Greater Manchester, also in 2020.

The tribunal found these allegations to be proved and they also found that he had failed to comply with conditions placed on his registration on purpose over a period of six weeks while working for Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Trust in 2021.

It also found that he had urinated in his clinical sink, and that he made the derogatory comment about Patient A.

It said: 'The Tribunal determined there was no evidence of an acknowledgment, appreciation of, or apology for, his proven serious misconduct.'