Nurse who let patient touch breasts suspended

A nurse who breached professional boundaries with patients and bullied colleagues has been suspended for nine months.

Deborah Stevenson, a community staff nurse in Hampshire, allowed a patient to touch her breasts and joked about "farting" with another patient's wife, a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing was told.

She was also found to have made inappropriate comments about a colleague's weight and to have engaged in intimidating and harassing behaviour.

The panel said her conduct demonstrated "attitudinal issues" and ruled her fitness to practise was impaired.

The panel found Stevenson crossed professional boundaries on a number of occasions between 2021 and 2022.

It concluded she was distressed about a lump and asked the patient to check it, describing it as an inappropriate "role reversal".

The panel found she hugged and kissed one patient, made a sexualised comment and gesture towards another, and became Facebook friends with a patient.

In a separate incident, she took a patient's bank card to shop for them, which the panel said was inappropriate despite being motivated by kindness.

The hearing also found she shouted at a colleague on more than one occasion and repeatedly encouraged a more junior staff member to make a complaint about another nurse.

The panel said her comments about a junior colleague's appearance and health condition were insensitive and created a distressing working environment.

In its written decision, the NMC said the misconduct was serious and represented a pattern of behaviour involving both patients and colleagues.

It found her fitness to practise was currently impaired on public protection and public interest grounds, citing limited insight and a risk of repetition.

While acknowledging she had engaged with the proceedings and shown some developing insight, the panel said further reflection and remediation were required.

As well as the nine month suspension, an interim suspension order was imposed to cover the appeal period.

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust merged with Solent NHS Trust and others to form Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in 2024.

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