Mental health nurse who had sex with patient in Shropshire struck off

A mental health nurse who had sex with a patient in Shropshire has been struck off.

Samantha Bourton, who worked for the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, was also found to have visited him outside working hours in May 2021.

She also failed to report concerns he felt suicidal, a panel heard.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said her actions were "totally unacceptable".

It said to allow her to continue practising could bring the profession into disrepute.

An NMC Fitness to Practise Committee said Ms Bourton, in a statement, did not dispute she had sex with the patient in May 2021.

The panel heard she made contact with him, using her personal number, and visited him out of hours at his accommodation on two further occasions.

She told investigators the patient said in a telephone conversation he was suicidal and said he was violent when she later visited him on 16 May 2021.

The panel said she should have escalated the matter but did not.

But it also found her later visits to his home were not motivated by sex but by "misguided attempts to manage the consequences" of her first visit.

Ms Bourton was struck off by the NMC but was given an interim suspension of 18 months to allow time for any appeal.

She has the right to appeal but the panel said if there was none, the striking off order would be imposed.