A FOREIGN doctor who administered a fatal overdose to a Blakedown GP’s 70-year-old father seemed tired and was “dithery” and “muttering to himself” at the time, the dead man's partner told an inquest.

David Gray died after he was given more than ten times the recommended daily dose of diamorphine, according to his family's lawyers.

Dr Daniel Ubani, a locum doctor from Germany, was on his first shift for GP out-of-hours service provider SuffDoc - now called Take Care Now - when he injected Mr Gray on February 16, 2008.

Dr Ubani was not at the non-jury inquest in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. He was due to give evidence but cannot be compelled to attend.

Mr Gray's partner Lynda Bubb told the inquest : “The doctor seemed a bit dithery.

“He was muttering to himself. He took everything out that he needed and placed it on the window sill.

“He did not speak very much English but what he said I understood.

“He seemed very tired and not as alert as he could have been as a doctor.”

Ms Bubb said she called SuffDoc at lunchtime when Mr Gray refused to eat because of the pain he was in from kidney stones.

The inquest heard that almost four hours later Dr Ubani arrived.

Ms Bubb said Dr Ubani gave Mr Gray two injections and then left the syringes on the window sill.

She added she checked on her partner half an hour after Dr Ubani left and he appeared to be asleep.

She said: “Some time later I realised there was something wrong with David.

“He did not seem to be moving in any way and he did not respond to me.”

The inquest was told that emergency services arrived and a short while later Mr Gray, from Manea, Cambridgeshire, was pronounced dead.

Dr Ubani did not have to take an English test or perform a medical exam before he was allowed to work for Take Care Now, the inquest heard.

He only received a two-hour tutorial from former mortgage adviser Karen Byford, who still works for Take Care Now, on the company's practices and computer system and a short introduction from another doctor.

But Mrs Byford told the inquest Dr Ubani's English seemed fine and he did not appear tired.

A letter sent to staff at Take Care Now 11 days after Mr Gray's death by Dr Chris Browning, a senior clinician with the firm, said the company faced “financial pressures” which had led to a reduction in the number of home visits by its doctors.

The inquest resumes on Thursday and is expected to finish on February 4.