NI nurse who revealed patient had an STD and called her a ‘slag’ struck off

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/ni-nurse-who-revealed-patient-had-an-std-and-called-her-a-slag-struck-off/a2126308935.html

A Northern Ireland nurse who called a female patient a “slag” and revealed private information that she had been treated for a sexually transmitted disease (STD) has been struck off.

Londonderry nurse Karla Sarah Mullan was known to the patient’s current partner, a tribunal was told.

A woman said Mullan told her via a Facebook call that her sister had an STD.
“Karla said: ‘Your sister’s a slag, she’s got [and STD],’” said the woman, identified as ‘Person 1’ in the tribunal case.

At the time, Mullan was said to be having “acrimonious exchanges” with a male who was now the partner of ‘Patient A’.

Details of Mullan’s misconduct while working at the Altnagelvin Area Hospital have been revealed in a decision by a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) fitness-to-practise panel, which said her actions caused the victim, Patient A, “psychological and emotional distress”.

The panel said the nurse, who registered in 2006, abused her position of trust by breaching patient confidentiality.

Mullan faced 16 allegations at the NMC virtual hearing, which concluded on September 11. She admitted five charges, while nine were found proved and two were found not proved.

Outlining the background, the panel said Mullan was referred to the NMC on July 8, 2019, by Patient A, whose concerns related to a period when Mullan was working as a tissue-viability nurse at the hospital.

Patient A complained on March 22, 2019, to the Western Health Trust that Mullan had told Person 1 private information the previous day, which she believed she had accessed from her private medical records.

In November 2019, Mullan received a final written warning by the Trust for accessing Patient A’s records.

She resigned in August 2020 while facing further allegations, including that she accessed another patient’s records without justification and behaved aggressively to a female colleague.

The panel said the Trust was unable to pursue the disciplinary issues further when she resigned.

In May 2020, Mullan applied to Pulsecare Agency but in her application claimed she had not been subject to a disciplinary process or an NMC referral.
When Pulsecare attempted to place Mullan at the Trust, it was told she had resigned while under investigation.

She did not work for the agency after this.
At the NMC tribunal, Mullan admitted accessing the medical records of Patient A without clinical justification on September 26 and November 7, 2018.

The panel found that she disclosed to Person 1 on March 21, 2019, that Patient A had a sexually transmitted disease.

It said that, in a witness statement on February 5, 2020, Person 1 stated: “Karla’s behaviour was having a negative impact on Patient A, so I decided to call her via Facebook Messenger, in the hope that I can get through to her and put an end to the conflict between her and Patient A. I have known Karla all her life and thought that if I calmly spoke to her and asked that she stop I might be able to get through to her.

“Karla started to make more and more personal remarks about Patient A and said to me, among other things: ‘Your sister is psychopath… a dirty slag.’
“When I challenged Karla on what she was saying, she repeated herself: ‘Your sister is a slag, she has [an STD].’
The panel said Mullan denied the allegation, saying that, although she had told Person 1 that Patient A has [an STD], what she meant by that was that [Patient A] was having unprotected sex.

Mullan also claimed that when she accessed Patient A’s Electronic Care Record (ECR), she did not access any records relating to her sexual health and believed such records required special permission to be accessed.

However, the panel accepted evidence from a colleague that Patient A’s sexual health records were accessible via Patient A’s ECR.

It added: “The panel further noted that [‘She has an STD’] was said in the heat of the moment when you were making various allegations about Patient A’s partner’s sexual conduct to Person 1.”
Among the charges Mullan admitted was that on May 15, 2020, she answered “No” when asked by Pulsecare if she was under investigation; the panel found she had acted dishonestly.

Mullan was lambasted for breaching Patient A’s privacy: “The panel noted that patient confidentiality is one of the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession…
“It found that your conduct amounted to an abuse of your position as a registered nurse for your own personal gain and would be regarded as deplorable by other members of the profession.”
The panel said Mullan’s fitness to practise was currently impaired on public protection and public interest grounds.

Striking Mullan’s name from the register, the NMC said aggravating factors included her “very limited remorse” concerning her conduct.
Mitigating features included “an otherwise unblemished career” prior to the incidents.

Mullan has 28 days to appeal, with an 18-month interim suspension imposed to cover any such appeal.