An Angus nurse has been suspended by her professional body over improper relations with a “vulnerable” patient.
Angela Harrison was a case worker at NHS Tayside’s Gowanlea community mental health team (CMHT) service on Seaton Road, Arbroath, when she began a relationship with the male in 2013.
An internal investigation was carried out in October that year when a co-worker relayed evidence of Ms Harrison’s relationship with Patient A.
This found the pair had met socially but did not find the relationship was sexual, although Ms Harrison conceded it was inappropriate. She was issued a first written warning.
A complaint by the male’s mother was subsequently made to the team manager in February 2014, over misconduct in the period alleged.
Ms Harrison faced three misconduct charges in front of a Nursing and Midwifery Council panel in Edinburgh, which has released its findings.
She faced a charge of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with Patient A between June and December 2013, failing to disclose the extent of the relationship on October 30 2013, and lying about the relationship.
Ms Harrison was present and unrepresented, and admitted all charges with the qualification that the sexual relationship had not started until Patient A was discharged from care in July 2013.
But the panel agreed with NMC representative Samantha Forsyth’s submission that Ms Harrison’s “inappropriate relationship with Patient A had started prior to him being discharged from your care and there was a clear imbalance of power in the relationship.”
It adds: “Ms Forsyth further submitted that as a result of your relationship with him he was no longer engaging with mental health services.
“The panel accepted your evidence that you have, to a considerable extent, reflected on your misconduct and learned a valuable lesson.
“In your evidence, you appeared to demonstrate genuine remorse for your acts and omissions, including your dishonest behaviour, and the panel understood that you had been able to put in practice what you have learned from your past mistakes by appropriately managing a situation when you became concerned that other members of staff may be crossing proper professional boundaries.”
The panel heard Ms Harrison had been dismissed by the NHS and is working for Balhousie Care Group.
She was given a suspension order for three months and an interim suspension order for 18 months.