An end-of-life care specialist has said she believed a Shropshire doctor was relieving the distress of a terminally-ill patient rather than hastening his death when he gave a large dose of diamorphine, a hearing heard.

Telford GP Dr Wendy Walton said yesterday she did not see a “hint of malpractice” in the treatment given by Dr William Bassett to the 65-year-old man who was dying from lung cancer.

The General Medical Council say a “tired and distressed” Dr Bassett injected about 10 times the accepted amount of the drug so the patient could “die in peace”.

The GP, based at Brown Clee Medical Practice in Ditton Priors, near Bridgnorth, denies he administered the 100mg dose to quicken the death.

Shortly after Patient A’s death in May 2009, Dr Walton received an e-mail from Dr Bassett in her then role as palliative care leader at Shropshire County Primary Care Trust. He said he had given a large dose of diamorphine after the patient had been “grossly agitated” and was screaming in pain.

Dr Walton said of the patient: “Without any treatment I would expect him to have died in a few hours.

“For me there was no hint of malpractice of using a drug inappropriately.”

Dr Walton did not agree that a dosage of 100mg necessarily meant an intention to hasten death.

“It seems very clear to me from Dr Bassett’s e-mail and my understanding of the case that his intention was to relieve distress,” she said.

The hearing in Manchester was told Patient A’s family have no grievance with Dr Bassett.

The matter was reported to West Mercia Police and Dr Bassett gave a prepared statement in which he said he had injected the full dose “accidentally” due to the fact he was “struggling”.

Her accepts he administered 100mg of diamorphine, that he took no action to reverse it, and that his actions put the patient at risk of respiratory failure.

The GMC alleges his fitness to practise is impaired because of his misconduct.

The hearing continues.