MH nurse slept with patient

[Ihaveaquestionn]

MH nurse at the local doctors surgery contacted my the patient (my friend) on Facebook after carrying out an assessment over the phone and discussing medication among other things.

The tone of the messaged escalated and they met up and had sex.

MH nurse then turned VERY nasty and borderline abusive over message when my friend made it clear they did not want to pursue anything more serious given their current life situation (MH problems, debt, work stress, children to support)

Not saying my friend is completely innocent here - it takes two to tango. But given the nature of their interaction it’s clear they could be in a vulnerable mental state and I am disgusted at this nurses behaviour. I think it’s completely unprofessional and inappropriate.

They also happen to be my point of contact at our local surgery - who I have been in contact with multiple times during a period of PND and other issues. I suppose I trusted this person and am now feeling quite shocked.

My friend won’t report them. Would I be unreasonable to?

(I have seen messages and pictures that confirm everything above. My friend is not making this up)

YABU - it’s none of your business, stay out of it

YANBU - you need to raise a concern for the sake of other patients

It's not a police matter, but you are absolutely right to report to the practice and/or to the NMC.

If you report it to the practice, they may then refer the matter to the NMC anyway - a lot of NMC and GMC referrals come via employers rather than patients/third parties. But it's not guaranteed that they will.

If you report it to the NMC and they triage the complaint as worthy of investigation, they'll need to tell the practice manager anyway, I suspect, as often they would want the practice to suspend the nurse or put her in a role where she isn't in contact with patients while the matter's under investigation.

Gender of nurse and patient shouldn't be relevant here; shagging patients is not on regardless of that. Even if your friend had approached the nurse rather than the other way round, it would still not be OK.

Omg definitely report this is 100% an abuse of power. Even the fact they turned nasty after would suggest to me this is them manipulating your friend because they've recognised that they are vulnerable. God knows how many other people they've done this to. Absolutely report ideally if you can support your friend to make the complaint then that's better but still do it yourself even if they don't. And I'd be honest with them about it and say you were extremely concerned they were abusing their position of trust and you care too much about them to let it go. That way if it's investigated you've been completely honest and can support your friend through the process. But 100% report everything you know as factually as you can both to the gp surgery and possibly to the police as well.

I spoke to the assistant practice manager who was quite shocked (understandably) and took my friend and the nurses name. She said she would notify the practice manager immediately.

Within a matter of hours they have called my friend and got his account of what happened. So they are obviously taking it seriously and acting quickly.

wondering if I will be notified of what the outcome of all this is… I do feel like I want to know, as a patient of the surgery. But not sure if I am entitled to know anything

I doubt they will provide you with an update. However the victim should get a general update. Eg it’s been reported to NMC

It happens more often than people think. I'm not shocked. But massively disappointed..

@Ihaveaquestionn In my experience there was a lessons learned meeting at the end with police, social services, mental health team and GP surgery all in attendance. I was invited to go.

The practice did keep me updated as the case progressed, specifically at key points. For instance I was told she had been suspended (after they finally listened to what I was saying; they did not believe at first even though I had pages and pages of text messages).

Social services were the best for keeping me updated - they were really thorough with it including all the times she changed her version of events (which was many). I had a piss-poor experience with the police who put me on an s136 at one stage as they also didn't really believe what I was saying.

If the NMC are involved you can read the notes through the register of any tribunals / cases so that is an additional way to get an update.

The nurse is female and the patient is male.

@10HailMarys
It's not a police matter, but you are absolutely right to report to the practice and/or to the NMC.

It absolutely is a police matter!!
If you'd RTFT you'd have seen the safeguarding social workers saying that, it's a criminal offence under the sexual offences act, abuse of a position of trust
(as OPs friend is under the CMHT of the team the MH nurse worked in and she did his initial assessment).

OP,

I have no idea whether it is a police matter or not. The Practice may hope you don’t report, for their own sake. Given the differences of opinion on this thread, perhaps the best thing is for the police themselves to decide whether it is a police matter. Best wishes

Report it NOW! It's abuse of power and he definitely needs striking off the register. Your friend is a victim here whether she believes she is ot not

@Tessabelle74 at least read the OPs posts

@CornishTiger why? Does the reversed genders make the outcome different? The PATIENT is the victim regardless and my advice is the same

Exactly! You don’t have to read every response but you could at least read all my posts!

@Tessabelle74 because you’ll see she’s already reported it!

@Ihaveaquestionn ooooooh I do apologise for AGREEING with how you've hbdjed the situation and for commenting on the run 🙄