Preston nurse who made comment about "bloody women" and failed tests is sacked by hospital and found incompetent by healthcare regulator

David John Martyn, a band 5 adult nurse from Preston who worked for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has been found to have an impaired fitness to practice and was given a nine-month conditions of practice order, and an interim conditions of pratice order for 18 months.

The Trust terminated his contract during a probatiionary period and made a referral about his conduct to the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) eight days later. He has not worked as a nurse since.

The hearing

An NMC hearing, held at the end of October this year, heard that between July and December 2018, Mr Martyn admitted to failing an Intravenous Medication Mathematical Assessment and failing a Venepuncture and Cannulation Simulated Assessment.

He was also proved to have made unprofessional comments during a group training session which required the use of a live model who had to remove his t-shirt for the demonstration.

A witness stated that when she drew the curtain to allow the model to get changed, Mr Martyn said: "Do you two want to get a room?". She stated that further to this there were some healthcare assistants present who asked some questions during the session and he said words to the effect of "Bloody women what are they going on about?"

The hearing also heard from a witness who is a clinical skills mentor who carried out a supervised drug round with Mr Martyn, and said she had numerous concerns regarding his ability to conduct this drug round safely. She further stated that she did not think his was safe to practise unsupervised.

Other charges, including documenting 'no concerns' for a patient who was short of breath, failing to handover to an oncoming shift that a patient was diabetic, and not demonstrating safe medication administration, were not proved.

"Risk of repetition"

But the panel found that his actions did fall seriously short of the standards expected of a nurse and amounted to lack of competence.

The NMC panel also said: "You have shown insight but the panel is of the view that you have only shown partial insight into your lack of competence. The panel determined that there is a risk of repetition.

"The panel noted that there was no actual patient harm but your lack of competence could put patients at risk of harm in several categories."

They added that not being able to carry out some fundamental nursing duties can "bring the profession into disrepute" and that public confidence in the profession would be undermined if a finding of impairment were not made in this case.

Sanction

Mr Martyn's representative, Louise McCullough, told the panel that nursing that all he ever wanted to do, and that he was a very caring nurse. She said that at the time of the events, he was experiencing personal health issues and stressors in his personal life.

The panel was of the view that it was in the public interest that, with appropriate safeguards, Mr Martyn should be able to practise as a registered nurse.

By making a conditions of practice order for a period of nine months, it means:

- He must be supervised by another registered nurse any time when he is working.

- He must not administer medication unless supervised by a competent nurse.

- He must work with a mentor, appointed by your line manager, to create a personal development plan (PDP).

- He must keep the NMC informed about anywhere he is working or studying.

- He must give a copy of the conditions to an organisation or person he works for.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have been approached for a comment.