Medical Law Experts Urge NHS Trust To Prove Lessons Have Been Learnt As Victim Says She Has A Life Sentence Of Memories

By Helen MacGregor

Expert lawyers representing women who were abused and filmed by their GP with a hidden camera in his watch have urged the local Primary Care Trust to make the findings of an internal investigation public to reassure patients the same ‘atrocious’ catalogue of crimes cannot happen again.

Medical law and abuse experts at Irwin Mitchell are representing a number of women who fell victim to Dr Davinderjit Bains at the Tinkers Lane Surgery in Royal Wootton Bassett in 2010.

One sufferer expressed her relief today (23 May) that Bains has finally been imprisoned but added that no sentence could reflect what her and the other victims have been put through.

Bains was sentenced to a 12-year jail term at Swindon Crown Court after pleading guilty to 39 sexual offences at a hearing in March, on top of a further 65 earlier charges.  Judge Douglas Field told Bains: ‘you are a disgrace to the medical profession’.

But Luke Daniels, a Partner at Irwin Mitchell helping victims to overcome their ordeals, says his clients still have concerns about how he was able to get away with such serious breaches of trust over a three-year period.

The medical law expert is now urging NHS Wiltshire - the local Primary Care Trust - to make public the findings of its own investigation to reassure the victims and current patients that everything is being done to prevent a similar appalling crime from happening again.

Luke said: “This man massively abused the position of trust in which he was placed and carried out the most atrocious crimes that continue to have a devastating effect on dozens of women.

“This went on for three-years and we want to know what complaints or concerns were raised during this time. Our clients are very keen to see how his actions were investigated as each woman involved deserves answers.

“Whilst my clients are relieved that Bains has been sent to prison, they continue to suffer psychologically as a result of the horrific abuse he carried out and need specialist treatment to help them come to terms with what happened. We are working to help them secure this.

“We now urge NHS Wiltshire to release the findings of its own investigation to provide answers to the victims and reassure current patients that any lessons that can be learnt from this case have been to protect their safety in future.”

One woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, first learnt something was wrong when she was contacted by an old colleague who said the police were looking for her and she needed to ring them.

The police asked her to attend the station where she was shown a still-shot taken from the video footage of her getting undressed at the surgery.

The woman, in her 30s, said: “My first reaction was complete shock and I asked them where they got the photo from. When they told me it was taken from video footage recorded by Dr Bains I felt absolutely disgusted and couldn’t stop crying.

“I felt violated and humiliated and couldn’t help wondering who else had seen the footage. It made me feel sick knowing that he made the video when I was so vulnerable.

“I am relieved he has been locked up for 12 years but the horror of what happened to me and the other women is a life sentence and will remain with us forever.

“It has a huge impact on my day-to-day life and I am struggling to move on. I now have problems with trusting people and remain very angry at being put in that situation completely oblivious to what was actually going on. I’m sad to admit it but I have lost faith in the NHS.

“I would gain some closure by knowing that NHS Wiltshire has thoroughly investigated how Bains got away with his abuse and also that improvements have been made where possible.

“I would urge any other victims of abuse to speak out and seek help as people like Bains need to be locked up and punished so they cannot hurt anyone else.”

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise relating to Medical Negligence Claims and Doctor Abuse Claims.