The chief executive of the Priory chain of alcohol and drug rehabilitation clinics, whose celebrity clientele includes Kate Moss, Paul Gascoigne and Ronnie Wood, was today accused of running a care home where elderly patients were routinely mistreated.

Dr Chai Patel, 50, a one-time Labour benefactor who has acted as an advisor on health to Tony Blair and former health secretary Alan Milburn, faces being struck off if found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council.

Dr Patel, of Oxshott, Surrey, is accused of failing to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of elderly residents at Lynde House, in Twickenham, south-west London, in his erstwhile role as chief executive of Westminster Health Care.

It was also alleged at the hearing in central London today that Dr Patel failed to provide and maintain an environment at the house where residents received “proper standards of care”.

Dr Patel is accused of failing to investigate claims in a letter sent to him that residents at the £800-a-week home were often left drenched in their own urine and that catering and general standards of care were poor.

The GMC heard that an independent report into alleged failings at the home published in 2001 found it was understaffed and under-resourced.

A subsequent investigation, commissioned by the Kingston and Richmond Health Authority and published in 2002, found a catalogue of failings including a high level of falls among residents and unexplained bruising which was not investigated, the panel was told.

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