Birmingham dentist reprimanded for patient record changes

Update: Omar Narayan successfully appealed this decision with the General Dental Council's Professional Conduct Committee and a reprimand was imposed instead. Mr Narayan was restored to the GDC register without restriction and we have amended the article's headline to reflect this update.

A dentist has been struck off for changing patient records at a practice in Birmingham.

Omar Narayan was investigated by the General Dental Council (GDC) over claims he altered documents at Hamstead Dental Practice.

Mr Narayan had claimed he was forced to change them by his employer Joyce Trail, who was jailed in 2012 for a £1.4m NHS fraud.

The GDC said Mr Narayan was guilty of a "serious breach" of standards.

The reason for falsifying records, it found, was to "deflect an inquiry" into a patient with dementia's capacity to give consent for treatment in 2011.

Neither Mr Narayan, nor his representative, attended the hearing last week. He has the right to appeal.

'Acted dishonestly'

In a finding of facts, the GDC panel heard Mr Narayan had described Ms Trail as an "aggressive and intimidating personality" who had "bullied" him into making changes to records.

It was told Mr Narayan had been instructed to "make additional entries to some of the records, rewrite some of the records and create some new documentation".

Trail was jailed in October 2012 for defrauding the NHS out of £1.4m after making claims for work she did not complete.

Three months earlier, during a five-week trial, Birmingham Crown Court heard she made 150 claims for fitting dentures or taking impressions for patients who were dead at the time she claimed to have performed treatment.

Despite Mr Narayan's claims of "bullying", the GDC panel said it was satisfied he had "acted dishonestly" and was aware "that what he was doing was wrong".

It added that his misconduct was "a serious breach of the standards expected of a registered dentist" and the decision to suspend his registration was "necessary for the protection of the public".