A former Dartford GP has admitted handing a female patient a knife and asking her to kill him at a hearing into his conduct.

Dr Andrew Patrick Doyle, who was a partner at The Orchard Practice in Tower Road, Dartford, also exchanged text messages of a sexual nature with the same woman, and shared violent and sexually explicit reading material with her. He now faces being struck off.

A fitness to practise hearing is being held in relation to an allegation that the doctor developed an improper emotional relationship with the woman, identified only as Patient A, between September 2010 and August 2011.

The proceedings, held by the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service (MPTS), has been told that Dr Doyle disputes the dates.

However, other allegations he has admitted include lending the patient money, buying her a shirt as a gift, kissing and cuddling her on one occasion, giving her lifts in his car and visiting her home on several occasions for non-clinical reasons.

The GP also prescribed the same patient excessive quantities of insomnia medication zopiclone between January 2008 and August 11, and the painkiller codeine between May and August 2011.

Dr Doyle also admitted prescribing morphine in inappropriately high quantities when combined with her other medications between July and August 2011.

But he disputes that he prescribed Patient A another painkiller, pentazocine, when it was not clinically indicated, between July and August that same year.

Further allegations admitted by Dr Doyle are that he failed to inform psychiatric colleagues treating the woman of the quantities of opiate medication being prescribed to her, and failed to seek advice in relation to such prescriptions.

Dr Doyle was initially suspended from the medical register in October 2011. This suspension was renewed in April last year and again in January this year, pending full proceedings, which started this week.

A spokesman at the surgery said earlier this month that Dr Doyle ceased to be a partner at the surgery, which is part of Dartford West Health Centre, in February last year, and had not worked at the surgery since August 2011.

The fitness to practise hearing is being held in Manchester and is expected to last until March 11. The panel will decide whether Dr Doyle’s fitness to practise is impaired because of his misconduct.