Nurse at Blackpool Victoria Hospital suspended after locking colleague in room and trying to kiss her
A nurse at Blackpool Victoria Hospital who locked a female colleague in a room after using the guise of training to meet her alone so he could kiss her has had his nusing registration temporaily suspended.
A panel of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) also heard nurse Andrew Paul Henson propositioned colleagues, made sexual innuendos and made their workplace uncomfortable.
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The NMC ruled the behaviour of the Band 7 nurse amounted to serious misconduct.
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The charges which date between 2018 and 2021 involved two female colleagues during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The panel said his actions were unprofessional and a breach of professional boundaries.
They said his actions violated both women’s dignity as well as making their work environment intimidating, hostile, degrading and humiliating.
On one occasion he was said to have engaged in inappropriate physical contact with a colleague by placing an unwanted hand on a female colleagues knee.
The NMC concluded his fitness to practise was impaired due to misconduct and banned him from working for six months.
Following an internal investigation by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Trust, the matter was referred to the NMC on 11 January 2022.
The charges relate to Mr Henson’s time working at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. The final part of the hearing held between March 9 and March 11 was told “there was a workplace culture involving banter and dark humour”.
On one occasion he asked a colleague to meet him after hours for ‘mandatory training’ and it was proven he tried to kiss her while they were alone.
The NMC said: “The panel noted your evidence that the primary motive for you inviting Colleague A to meet you was to discuss mandatory training.
“The panel accepted that in your message to Colleague A you had expressly given this as the reason. However, the panel did not find that this was your primary motive. Rather, the panel found that this was an excuse to invite Colleague A into a private space at a time and place where you knew the two of you would be alone.
“It noted that the meeting was arranged outside of your normal working hours, at a time when the other staff who usually used the office were absent.
“The panel carefully considered why the invitation was sent with a winking face emoji and acknowledged your explanation that this was simply playful.
“However, the panel was satisfied that it was flirtatious and indicative of the fact that mandatory training was a pretext for inviting Colleague A to the office.”
The NMC added: “She (Ms Mukhia, the newly appointed case presenter on behalf of the NMC) submitted that your conduct towards Colleague A, including attempting to kiss her, was sexually motivated and unwelcome. Colleague A was a young and relatively junior nurse, and you took advantage of this imbalance of power.”
Since January 2024 Mr Henson has been employed in a new role as a Band 6 nurse. During this period, he has practised without an interim order in place and without incident.
The current employer understood to be Blackpool Teaching Hopsitals, has since implemented specific measures to manage any potential risk including a requirement that, when Mr Henson is training female members of staff, the office door must remain open.
Since the date of the charges Mr Henson was said to have shown meaningful insight and remediation by completing a professional boundaries course.
Defending Mr Henson, Ms Malcom told the panel he fully accepted the findings of fact made by the panel and that the conduct found proved amounts to misconduct.
The panel was also told Mr Henson’s clinical ability had never been called into question and that there have been no concerns regarding the care provided to patients.
Concluding the panel said: “Nurses occupy a position of privilege and trust in society and are expected at all times to be professional and to maintain professional boundaries. Patients and their families must be able to trust nurses with their lives and the lives of their loved ones. To justify that trust, nurses must be honest and open and act with integrity. They must make sure that their conduct at all times justifies both their patients’ and the public’s trust in the profession.
The NMC added: “The panel found that your actions did fall seriously short of the conduct and standards expected of a nurse and amounted to serious misconduct.
But stated: “The panel nevertheless considered that the conduct is in this particular case was capable of remediation.”
A six month suspension order was granted by the NMC.
The panel said: “The effect of this order is that the NMC register will show that your registration has been suspended. At the end of the period of suspension, another panel will review the order. At the review hearing the panel may revoke the order, or it may confirm the order, or it may replace the order with another order.”
The suspension will come into force at the end of the 28-day appeal period.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust which runs Blackpool Victoria Hospital has been approached for comment.