A nurse formerly in charge of a Birmingham nursing home where 27 elderly residents died in a year will face a disciplinary hearing next week.

Kathleen Smith, who was nursing manager at Maypole Nursing Home, could be suspended or struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council panel which will begin their two-week hearing on Monday.

The NMC's Conduct and Competence Committee will consider a total of 22 allegations against Ms Smith, which include allowing staff to restrain patients using "inappropriate methods", failing to ensure drugs were administered properly and not keeping records of reported accidents, deaths and other incidents.

Last November a judicial review was held at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, into whether an inquest into the death of Leslie Vines, a 77-year-old war veteran who died 10 days after he arrived at Maypole, should have been held.

Judge Justice McCombe, who postponed his decision over whether to order an inquest, heard there were "gross departures from the acceptable standards of care" at the home in Alcester Road South, run by Dr Jamalapuram Hari Gopal and his wife Dr Pratury Samrajya Lakshmi.

The GP couple closed the home in March 2003 following a surprise inspection by the National Care Standards Council which revealed it was filthy and understaffed.

But Ms Smith claimed the NCSC report criticised the way the inspection had taken place.

Speaking in July 2003, after Dr Gopal and Dr Lakshmi were suspended pending a police investigation into the deaths, she said: "The inspectors totally intimidated us and made us out to be criminals.

"I am aware that 23 people died in the home in the two years that I was there. This sounds like a lot but the bigger picture is that we took in very frail, sick and elderly people.

"Food contamination boiled down to a cornflake in a sugar bowl and restraint concerned a resident who requested a child gate on his bedroom door to stop residents from wandering in."

Dr Gopal and Dr Lakshmi were both struck off the Medical Register in January 2006, on the basis of serious professional misconduct.

Hazel Bicknell, Mr Vines' daughter, said: "Although it has been more than five years since my father's death, we continue to fight for justice. I've never believed the home's explanation for my father's death.

"When he was transferred from Heartlands Hospital doctors described him as being 'as strong as a 21-year-old' but within 48 hours of going into the Maypole he was reduced to a shuffling wreck. I believe that my father did not die from natural causes but as a result of neglect and the way he was treated at the Maypole."

Concerns about the Maypole were first raised back in 2001 and health officials conducted 17 inspections of the home before it was finally closed in March 2003.

Victoria Blankstone, the family's solicitor with Birmingham-based law firm Irwin Mitchell, said: "A number of official reports have revealed the extremely poor standards of medical and nursing care at the Maypole.

"Whilst the two doctors who owned the home have already been appropriately dealt with, this is the first time that a senior member of nursing staff who was directly responsible for the day to day care of the residents, has faced disciplinary charges.

"The charges are extremely serious and call into question her competence to work as a nurse.

"If found guilty she could be suspended or struck off the nursing register."