Care nurse struck off for sex with husband of her patient

A ‘MORALLY reprehensible’ nurse has been struck off for having sex with the husband of a dementia patient.

Anna Pather also accepted gifts, money or favours from the man, who was himself suffering from Parkinson’s and recovering from a triple heart bypass.

Pather, who worked at a care home in Edinburgh, was said by a witness at the disciplinary hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), to have ‘emptied’ the man’s bank account.

Following the hearing in Edinburgh this week, the NMC found two charges against Pather proved and that her fitness to practise was impaired. The charges cover the period 2006 to 2012 when Pather was found to be in a relationship with ‘Person A’ while working at Strachan House care home. She also received money, gifts or favours from Person A, the hearing found.

NMC panel chairman Martyn Griffiths said: ‘She abused her privileged position of trust when she entered into the relationship with the husband of Patient A.

‘Anna Pather’s morally reprehensible behaviour by its very nature makes it difficult for her to demonstrate that it had been remedied.’

According to the NMC, Pather recently moved to South Africa and has not responded to the charges.

During the hearing, the son of the patient, whose identity was kept secret, revealed that Pather went on holiday with his father before his mother’s death in December 2007.

He said: ‘Shortly after my mother’s funeral, my father admitted that he and Ms Pather were in a relationship. They went on holiday together in early 2007.

‘She was abusing him physically and phychologically,’ said the son, who added that his father ‘was not capable of managing his personal and financial affairs’.

The couple’s son-in-law then told the hearing that Pather financially crippled the husband, whom he described as a very shrewd businessman.

He said: ‘He was not paying his tax because he was spending all his money on Ms Pather, including expensive holidays. In December 2011, he demanded £5,000 from me. She had emptied his account and left him in the red.’

The son-in-law explained that after the relationship with Pather began, his father-in-law started to make large withdrawals including one for £27,000. He alleged: ‘There was evidence of [Pather] sending sums of money back to South Africa.’

The witness also told the hearing his father-in-law, who in 2014 went into care himself, confirmed his relationship with Pather was sexual.

‘He made a comment about the sex being great,’ said the son-in-law, and said that he was going to have ‘brown babies’.

A spokesman for the NMC confirmed Pather had been struck off the nursing register.

‘She abused her position of trust’