Nurse Banned For Spending Too Much Time With Mental Health Patient
A nurse who abandoned her post to spend hours alone with one of her patients during her night shifts has been banned for nine months.
Iona McLay spent time alone with the man in his bedroom and they regularly swapped text messages during his stay on the mental health unit at the Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Scotland.
Staff became concerned when the nurse spent long periods with a vulnerable patient between April and May 2013.
The man, referred to as Patient A, started to change his sleeping patterns to be awake when McLay was at work, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.
Eventually his relationship with other staff members broke down, and McLay was reported to bosses for neglecting her ward duties to spend time with him.
She was sacked for gross misconduct in October 2013, but denied claims that there had been physical contact with the patient.
Nigel Hallam, chairing the NMC tribunal, issued a nine-month ban, saying: 'Ms McLay accepts that by exchanging inappropriate text messages with Patient A and spending a disproportionate amount of time with him between April 2013 and May 2013 she placed Patient A and staff members at risk.
'She acknowledges the vulnerabilities of Patient A and the resultant effect when her communications with him were terminated.
'She also acknowledges the difficulties created by her conduct for other staff members responsible for Patient A's mental health care and treatment.
'It is agreed that a finding of impairment should be found on the basis of the public protection.
'Ms McLay accepts that by breaching the therapeutic relationship with Patient A, she breached a fundamental tenet of the profession, namely the requirement to maintain clear professional boundaries.'