This matter was brought before the NMC following a disclosure by a patient to other professionals involved in his care. The patient alleged that he had been in a relationship with Rebecca’s client (‘Nurse A’) and had engaged in sexual activity leading to Nurse A becoming pregnant with the patient’s child. The patient subsequently withdrew their complaint, suggested they had ‘made it all up’, and refused to engage any further.
At the final hearing before a panel of the NMC’s fitness to practise committee, Rebecca successfully opposed the inclusion of the patient’s evidence. The panel accepted written submissions drafted by Alex Courtnage which argued that the patient’s evidence amounted to inadmissible hearsay. The submissions drew upon principles derived from key cases including Thorneycroft v Nursing and Midwifery Council [2014] EWHC 1565 (Admin) and El-Karout v Nursing and Midwifery Council [2019] EWHC 28 (Admin).
The allegations were nonetheless pursued by the NMC on the basis that other healthcare professionals had seen text messages on the patient’s phone which appeared to have been sent by Nurse A’s telephone number and were said to support the allegations. The NMC relied upon contemporaneous notes of these text messages and live evidence from a professional who had seen them.
Ultimately, Rebecca was able to persuade the panel that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the text messages were in fact sent by Nurse A. Without having access to the device or data, the NMC had not proved that the text messages shown to the professionals were authentic and had not been manipulated in any way. Accordingly, the charges were found ‘not proved’ and no further action was taken.
