A family doctor refused to let a nurse watch him carry out examinations of women's breasts and private parts, a hearing heard.

GP Faiz Rehman, 63, is accused of bullying four patients into being examined against their wishes between 1982 and 1998.

They claim he left them feeling dirty and humiliated during the appointments at his practice in Aldwick Road, Bognor.

Nurse Susan Andrews told the General Medical Council yesterday how Dr Rehman "blanked" her suggestion of having a chaperone during intimate examinations.

She said: "I did offer to be a chaperone but he would say 'I don't need you'.

"Another time, I approached him and said it was nice for lady patients to have a female present. There was no comment from him, just a smile."

Mrs Andrews said he only asked for her help twice, when he was examining the wife of another GP and when he needed help to lift an elderly woman on to the couch.

She also told how Dr Rehman would carry out internal examinations and smear tests when he was alone in the surgery.

She said: "I would often come in for the morning after a late-night surgery to find a smear sample ready to go off."

Patients also became fed up with the GP's lateness and would phone ahead to check what time to come in for their appointment, the hearing was told.

Mrs Andrews, who left the practice after only eight months, said: "I had great concerns because things were very untidy. Records were left everywhere and it appeared very disorganised."

Dr Rehman is accused of inappropriate, unprofessional and inconsiderate behaviour towards all four patients.

One claimed he told her to "lie back and think of England" instead of refusing sex with her husband because of soreness following the birth of her son.

Dr Rehman, of Marshall Avenue, Bognor, denies serious professional misconduct. The hearing continues.