Nurse faces being struck off for helping gunman son
JAILED MUM FOUND IN BREACH OF ‘FUNDAMENTAL TENETS’ OF PROFESSION
A NURSE faces being struck off for helping her son after he shot a loverival and point-blank range in her NHS-leased car.
Patricia Dean took the Mercedes C-Class to be washed to get rid of the evidence.
The mental health nurse was jailed for 18 months in 2019 for assisting an offender.
A hearing was held last week by the Nursing and Widwifery Council’s fitness to practise committee to judge if Dean’s fitness to practice was impaired by the conviction.
Dean was dismissed from the hospital where she worked, Manchester North General Hospital, in October last year.
She has now been suspended from nursing – and will be struck off if she doesn’t appeal.
Dean is said to have told the committee that while she accepted she was convicted of a crime, she did not do this willingly or knowingly. Therefore she did not admit that her fitness to carry on practicing nursing was impaired.
Her son Vincenzo De Falco shot the man in the leg in the back seat of her car, Falco had travelled to Rochdale and took the car which Dean allowed her son to drive when he needed it. He then became involved in an argument with an ex-partner of his then current girlfriend and shot him in the leg before dumping them on Knowsley Street in the town. De Falco was jailed for more than 11 years last November. Dean was said to have told the fitness to practice committee that while she accepts she was convicted of a crime, she did not do this willingly or knowingly. Therefore she did not admit that her fitness to carry on practising nursing was impaired. The committee’s report says that there is no ‘statutory definition’ of fitness to practise, but ‘the NMC has defined fitness to practise as a registrant’s suitability to remain on the register unrestricted.’
Matthew Kewley, representing the NMC, said the conviction is such ‘that a finding of current impairment is required only on public interest grounds in order to maintain public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body and to declare and uphold proper standards of conduct.’
He added that Dean had breached ‘fundamental tenets’ of the profession and that her conduct was not ‘easily remediable.’ Mr Kewley argued that Dean should be struck off on public interest grounds.
Dean is said to have contacted the NMC at the time of being arrested and told the panel that she has always followed the code of conduct and practiced lawfully.
She said that since the conviction she has decided to ‘voluntarily’ remove herself from the register in order to ‘not cause further embarrassment’ and to carry on with her life. This was so her name could be removed without a ‘bad stamp’ against it. The report goes on to say: “The panel noted your explanation of your conduct and your denial of criminal intent or conduct. If correct, your case is a tragic conclusion to a long and successful nursing career.” It added: “The panel found that the behaviour leading to your conviction had breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession as you acted without integrity and were found to be dishonest.”
Dean was struck off the register on the grounds of ‘public interest.’ The report concluded: “The panel considered that this order was necessary to mark the importance of maintaining public confidence in the profession, and to send to the public and the profession a clear message about the standard of behaviour required of a registered nurse.”
The panel imposed an interim suspension order of 18 months to allow time for any appeal. If no appeal is made, the interim suspension will be replaced by a striking-off order – 28 days after Dean is sent the decision of the hearing in writing.
Your case is a tragic conclusion to a long and successful nursing career
Fitness to practise committee report