Inverness children's nurse keeps registration after Nursing and Midwifery Council finds he violated dignity of student male nurse
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An Inverness children's nurse has been allowed to keep his registration after he was found to have sexually harrassed a student male nurse who subsequently left the profession.
Scott Macpherson was suspended for six months following an inquiry by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
The panel found Mr Macpherson's conduct was so deplorable and so significant a departure from professional standards that it amounted to nothing short of serious misconduct.
It gave serious consideration to imposing a striking off-order but given Mr Macpherson's assurances he would not repeat the misconduct, it concluded that a striking-off order would be disproportionate.
The inquiry heard the young male nurse had been on placement on the children's unit at Raigmore Hospital in 2018 when the first incident occurred.
During a conversation about the student's placement, it was alleged Mr Macpherson, who was his mentor, suggested the student perform a sex act on him.
The student said it made him feel extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed. He said there was further innuendo.
The following day he called in sick as he could not face going back into that environment and sought advice from his student representative and one of his parents.
He was advised to report the incident to his university and go back to the hospital hoping the event was an isolated one.
On the day he returned, he remarked that he had a sore neck and Mr Macpherson offered to massage his neck which he declined. Mr Macpherson responded: "I don’t bite, unless they want me to."
The student was left upset, uncomfortable, felt overwhelmed by the situation, and eventually left nursing.
When challenged, Mr MacPherson admitted making the comments but claimed they were not sexually motivated, describing them as "banter".
In considering the evidence, the panel felt the facts found proved had the effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment for the student and had the effect of violating his dignity.
The panel found Mr Macpherson's actions did fall seriously short of the conduct and standards expected of a nurse and amounted to misconduct.
In issuing a suspension, it said it recognised the balance between the public interest in upholding proper professional standards and the public interest in enabling an experienced nurse whose clinical abilities were well regarded to return to practice.
