A Dundee mental health nurse who put a female patient at “unwarranted risk of harm” has been struck off.
A hearing found that Albert McGowan, 61, a staff nurse at the Carseview Centre, refused the woman’s request to visit the facility as he thought she was drunk.
He also failed to provide adequate care to the woman, known as Patient A, in March 2011 by not asking safety questions during a phone call, including why her speech was slurred and how she was feeling.
The woman died shortly afterwards, but the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel said it “had no evidence that suggested that Mr McGowan’s actions played a direct part in the death of patient A.”
Mr McGowan will not be able to apply for restoration for five years, although he is believed to have since retired.
Mr McGowan, who was employed as a Band 6 staff nurse at the centre’s Adult Mental Health Response Team, was also found to have discouraged a colleague from carrying out a home visit to the woman.
The NMC judgment states: “The panel finds that Mr McGowan’s actions did fall seriously short of the conduct and standards expected of a registered mental health nurse and amounted to misconduct.
“The panel finds that the failings identified throughout this case show that by failing to adequately assess Patient A and basing his judgment of her current condition on his past knowledge and experience of her, Mr McGowan did put Patient A at unwarranted risk of harm.
“Further that through his acts and omissions he brought the medical profession into disrepute and breached the fundamental tenets of the profession.”
Mr McGowan did not attend last week’s hearing in Edinburgh and was not represented in his absence. However, he made a written representation to the charges against him to the NMC panel.
The panel heard from six witnesses all of whom were found to be “truthful, credible and reliable”.
One of the witnesses told the panel that Mr McGowan should have considered Patient A’s current circumstances and her deterioration, which were clearly documented within her electronic records, before dismissing her request to attend the centre.
The panel noted: “In his own written response, Mr McGowan stated that he informed Patient A that if she attended the centre he would not be able to assess her mental health due to, what he assumed was, her level of alcohol consumption.
“Further that he advised her to have a sleep and contact the centre when she awoke for it to be then determined if an assessment was required.
“The panel was aware that Patient A was asking to attend the centre and Mr McGowan intervened to prevent this.
“The panel was of the view that this was based on his lack of adequate assessment of her current needs and his failure to obtain evidence as to her current condition.
“This was based on his assumption that she was intoxicated.”
The panel was informed that Patient A died in mid-March 2011.
The hearing was told: “Although the panel had no evidence that suggested that Mr McGowan’s actions played a direct part in the death of patient A, the panel was of the view that Mr McGowan’s failure to assess Patient A on the best available and current evidence led to a delay in Patient A receiving the care that she required at that time and thereby increased the risk that she was in.”