Nurse sacked after failing to call ambulance for secret lover who died in late night car park meeting
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A nurse has been sacked after failing to call for an ambulance after her secret lover died following a late night meet up outside a hospital.
Penelope Williams was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council after it concluded her actions brought the profession into disrepute.
Williams' secret lover, known as Patient A, was found in the back of his own car.
The pair had met a year before the man died of heart failure and chronic kidney disease.
Patient A, who previously received treatment in the renal unit where Williams worked, was found unresponsive with his trousers down.
Williams had gone to the home of a colleague ahead of her meeting with Patient A.
Her co-worker received a call from Williams just before midnight.
The panel was told Williams was “crying”, “distressed” and “asking for help”.
Williams was advised to call an ambulance after telling her colleague someone had died.
The former general nurse opted not to do so and Patient A was pronounced dead shortly after.
Williams, who claimed she was sat “just talking” in the back of his car for no longer than 45 minutes, initially told police and a paramedic she had gone to the car park after Patient A messaged her saying he was unwell.
She later admitted to having a sexual relationship with Patient A.
Williams previously denied having a sexual relationship when being quizzed by health board officials in February.
The 42-year-old was sacked in at a disciplinary hearing in May after confessing to the relationship and not calling for an ambulance.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council panel found failing to mention the relationship "put her own interests ahead of the wellbeing of Patient A".
The panel concluded: “Mrs Williams' actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse, and are fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.
“The panel was of the view that the findings in this particular case demonstrate that Mrs Williams' actions were so serious that to allow her to continue practising would undermine public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body.”
She was said to have been remorseful but had limited insight about the damage her relationship could cause to nursing's reputation or its effect on public safety.
Such limited insight amounted to serious misconduct which impaired her work as a general nurse.