An osteopath has been sanctioned for referring to a patient as ‘Nora Batty’ during an appointment.
The reference to the Last Of The Summer Wine character – known for her curlers and wrinkled stockings in the 1980s BBC sitcom – was deemed to be ‘unacceptable professional conduct’.
A disciplinary panel said the remark, made by Peter Rees, was ‘pejorative’ and ‘inappropriate’.
Mr Rees was also found guilty of manipulating the patient’s spine despite the risk this posed because of her condition resulting in a fractured clavicle.
A professional conduct committee of the General Osteopathic Council (OPC) found Mr Rees’s actions to be a ‘serious departure’ from the standards required and admonished him.
The panel heard that Mr Rees is self-employed at a clinic in Stourbridge, West Midlands, and has been working as an osteopath for 40 years.
In March 2022, he was visited by a new client, referred to only as Patient A, for treatment of her lower back pain.
‘During the first appointment on March 9, 2022, Mr Rees made a comment about Patient A, referring to her as “Nora Batty”, which was a pejorative reference to a fictional character from the TV series Last Of The Summer Wine and she felt he was not empathetic,’ the panel said.
The character Nora Batty was known for her curlers and wrinkled stockings in the 1980s BBC sitcom
The reference to the Last Of The Summer Wine character was deemed to be ‘unacceptable professional conduct’.
Ms Batty, played by Kathy Staff on the world’s longest-running sitcom, was famous for being the butt of many jokes and fighting off advances from Bill Owen’s Compo Simmonite – often hitting him with her broom.
Despite the remark, the woman gave Mr Rees the ‘benefit of the doubt’ and went back for a second appointment because she felt ‘locked up’.
The osteopath mobilised and manipulated her spine which resulted in a loud crack and Patient A ‘crying out in pain’. She told him it was painful but he did not do anything then or when she mentioned it again while paying.
Three days later, an X-ray at the hospital showed her right clavicle had been fractured.
At the hearing, Mr Rees admitted unacceptable professional conduct, including that he had referred to her as Nora Batty and performed the spinal manipulation which was not ‘clinically justified’. The hearing was told that since the complaint the osteopath has undertaken ‘bespoke training’ with a doctor to improve his practice.
The panel found Mr Rees’s behaviour was a ‘serious departure’ from the standards required, adding: ‘The findings demonstrated [Mr Rees] had ignored or disregarded complaints of pain and had provided inappropriate treatment that resulted in harm to her.’
However, it also concluded that this was single case in a long career and an admonishment was a sufficient sanction.
