‘Bullying and intimidating’ nurse suspended from register
Posted 15 February 2024 - 12:00
NMC fitness to practise panel hears of mental health nurse Declan Carroll’s behaviour towards colleagues and a nursing student, which led to his dismissal
A mental health nurse who was sacked for ‘bullying and intimidating’ behaviour at work has been suspended from the register for six months.
Declan Carroll worked as a charge nurse at Berrywood Hospital in Northampton until July 2020, when he was dismissed. Anonymous concerns were raised in 2019 about his behaviour towards colleagues and a nursing student he was supervising.
‘Negative culture’ on the ward
According to a Nursing and Midwifery Council fitness to practise (FtP) case report published in January, an internal investigation by Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, found evidence of a ‘negative culture’ on the ward where Mr Carroll worked, with concerns over ‘bullying behaviour’ towards staff.
The trust considered the negative culture as a contributing factor in why it had become ‘increasingly difficult’ to fill vacant shifts on the ward, with the case report stating that staff on other wards were ‘hesitant and resistant’ to work there.
Mr Carroll was dismissed from his role due to gross misconduct following a disciplinary hearing.
Nursing student denied access to help
The case report states that Mr Carroll denied all 21 charges against him, including incidents that allegedly took place between May and September 2019. The charges found to be proved included trying to prevent a nursing student from asking another staff member, named as ‘Witness 4’, for help with medicine competency.
In the student’s interview from August 2019, included in the FtP case report, she said: ‘DC came into the office [and said] ‘why are you asking [Witness 4], don’t ask [Witness 4], find out yourself.’
Witness 4 told the FtP panel that Mr Carroll said words to the effect of ‘under no account should you provide answers to her’.
The panel found Mr Carroll also asked the nursing student to tell colleagues why a patient’s health had improved, then said they were wrong and that the patient’s progress was solely because of him.
‘Belittled and threatened’ by nurse’s behaviour
One colleague reported feeling ‘intimidated, belittled, disrespected, threatened, uncomfortable and disparaged’ by Mr Carroll’s behaviour, while another said he shook a chair she was sitting on ‘to the extent she felt she had to get off otherwise she would have fallen off’.
Mr Carroll told the panel the chair incident was a ‘humourous exchange’ and ‘reciprocal banter’, however the colleague said she did not feel she had enough of a relationship with him to have banter.
The FtP panel found Mr Carroll had shown ‘considerable insight’ into his actions. In a reflection submitted in January 2024, he said he was ‘saddened’ by the findings.
‘I am sorry about my behaviour and the impact this has had on my former colleagues. I understand that if a member of the public or a fellow professional read these findings, they would have concerns about my behaviour,’ he stated.
Representative says nurse is taking positive steps to improve behaviour
Mr Carroll’s representative Dennis Hamill told the panel he was making ‘great strides’ in his new workplace, was ‘extremely well thought of’ by his current colleagues and had undertaken training to address his ‘problem areas’.
Mr Carroll was given a six-month suspension order with no review, and an interim suspension order of 18 months.
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