SURGEON Richard Neale told a patient suffering repeated attacks of severe gynaecological pain that she should "grin and bear it", the General Medical Council was told yesterday.

Sheila Wright-Hogeland, an endometriosis sufferer, who was treated at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, said the pain was "like a lightning bolt" shooting through her body, and said Mr Neale was unsympathetic, dismissive and did not monitor her properly during her six years as his patient.

She claimed she was left for weeks after agonising attacks before he would arrange an appointment to see her and, despite her pleading for frequent check-ups, would only see her every six months.

She collapsed breathless on the kitchen floor after one attack in November 1990, clutching her abdomen. She recalled informing Mr Neale of the "stabbing pain" of an attack in March 1991.

She told the disciplinary hearing in London: "I remember I used to tell him that it felt like a lightning bolt shot through my body and I would gasp for breath.

"He did the usual vaginal examination and said it would be ovulation pain.

"I believe that he told me I should grin and bear it.

"He used to say 'Stop making such a fuss about it' and that women must get used to pain. Many woman have painful ovulations, he said.

"I was made to feel that I was being an overly demanding patient."

Mr Neale, 52, of Boroughbridge, near York, North Yorkshire, faces 35 allegations relating to 14 women patients. He is also accused of two charges of falsifying his CV to win a post assessing other doctors' performances.

Mr Neale denies serious professional misconduct.

It is alleged that the gynaecologist neglected his patients, abused his skills and damaged the reputation of the medical profession with a catalogue of mistakes, spanning 17 years.

Mr Neale worked at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, between 1985 and 1995. He then worked in London, Leicester, the Isle of Wight and Leeds, before being suspended by the GMC last year.