The GMC had heard how drug addicts from across Bri

The GMC had heard how drug addicts from across Britain flocked to the centre to obtain huge prescriptions from doctors Onen and Onyango.

Two men travelled up to 100 miles from their homes on the south coast while another would frequently visit the clinic from the west country.

One patient was given drugs before a urine test had been taken, and another was prescribed Methadone even though doctors elsewhere informed the clinic that they were supplying her to.

And a third man managed to get hold of the date rape drug Rohypnol even though his urine was never even tested, the GMC heard.

Mr Collender said a patient identified as ‘PS’ was given 18 prescriptions for Methadone before being tested.

A man referred to as ‘EW’ travelled from Hayling Island in Hampshire and was given drugs even though he tested negative for them.

Mr Collender said: ‘He said he was taking street heroin and a prescription was given.

‘This is an example of the difficulty and possible lack of reliability of the report by patients.

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A woman referred to as ‘KP’ from Mitcham was given injectable Methadone even after Dr Onen learnt she was being treated elsewhere.

Mr Collender told the committee: ‘She was getting drugs from another project and there was no apparent check with that project as to her prescriptions from them, whether she was stable or not, or whether she had stopped collecting from that project.

‘In September 1997 Dr Onen was informed that she was an in-patient and that they would be taking over her prescription.

‘Nevertheless he prescribed at that time.

This is a patient who was prescribed drugs over a very considerable period, including high doses of Methadone with no particular instructions.

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A man called ‘WP’ visited the centre from his homes in Bath and Shepton Mallet, Somerset, in 1996, and was given Rohypnol and Methadone.

And a man called ‘JW’ of Cowplain, near Portsmouth, was also given Rohypnol and Methadone without being tested.

Mr Collender also told of the tragic cases of the two patients who died with drugs in their system.

Unemployed ‘Mr McH’ was not urine-tested for a ‘considerable time’ after first attending a clinic but was still given a large number of prescriptions.

He died from a Methadone overdose on December 19, 1999, three days after visiting Dr Onen.

And ‘Ms SW’ died from a chest illness and Methadone ingestion after regularly being given ‘substantial quantities’ of drugs by Dr Onen.

The GMC had heard that two patients had been given drugs even though no check had been made to see what they had been given in the past.

Mr Collender explained: ‘There is the possibility of prescribing occurring while it was continuing from another doctor or pharmacist, meaning the patient is getting drugs from two separate sources.

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The hearing was told that some patients visiting the centre lived a long way from Deptford which made it more difficult for the doctors to monitor them.

Explaining the levels of drugs prescribed, Mr Collender said the lethal dose of Methadone was around 75mgs but it could be as little as 40mgs for some people.

But Onen and Onyango sometimes prescribed up to 400mgs a day.

And many of the drugs were given out in ampoule form which encourages addicts to inject.

He said that only four patients of the 31 concerned underwent a urine test at their first appointment.

And many were given ‘defective’ instructions on how to take their drugs.

Mr Collender said: ‘The instructions were often ambiguous as to the prescription interval, and sometimes the prescriptions were open-ended and there was no proper monitoring of the drugs prescribed.

‘Sometimes they were prescribed in large doses, and these patterns of prescribing were persisted in over a long period of time despite the guidelines for doctors.

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ends