A retired family doctor has been struck off for failing to accept the seriousness of unlawfully prescribing sleeping pills to a friend.

Dr Michael Wain had previously been suspended for six months but now the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service says his "total disregard" for its directions warranted the ultimate sanction.

It has resulted in the former GP's otherwise long and unblemished career ending under a cloud.

Dr Wain, who worked at Estuary View Medical Centre in Whitstable from 1980 until 2015, used an old prescription pad, which he kept after leaving the practice, to issue a woman friend with a prescription for pills to treat insomnia and stomach acid.

But the irregularity was picked up when she presented the prescription to a pharmacy in Norfolk.

It led to a another doctor from Estuary View, filing a complaint and Dr Wain was put under investigation by the General Medical Council.

Dr Wain, who continued working as a part time locum after leaving Estuary View, admitted his actions were "foolish" and a "matter of regret" but disputed he was dishonest.

One of the factors that troubled the panel was Dr Wain's failure to declare to an employment appraisal in 2018 that he was under investigation by the General Medical Council.

Explaining his non-attendance at the hearings he previously told the tribunal: "I feel this would be a stressful experience that would probably prove of little gain to me.

"The main reason for non-attendance is that, at 71 years of age, I am at the end of a long career in medicine - which has been unblemished until the recent incident in question.

"As my retirement is very close now, I feel a certain philosophical detachment regarding the planned deliberations."

Dr Wain also asked for his name to be removed from the register and he had no intention of continuing in medical practice.

"I feel a certain philosophical detachment regarding the planned deliberations..."

But the tribunal panel was not impressed with his attitude towards the rulings.

In its findings, it says Dr Wain had shown a "total disregard" to the directions of the May, 2019 tribunal hearing.

It originally considered a six-month suspension was the "appropriate and proportionate sanction" considering the mitigating factors.

But a new tribunal hearing convened last month and concluded that he had failed to comply with the requirements set out by the regulator.

They included providing evidence that he had developed sufficient insight into his misconduct, its seriousness and its consequences and remedied it.

The reviewing panel has now decided that together with his "persistent lack of insight into his dishonest behaviour", the appropriate and proportionate sanction is to erase his name from the medical register.

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