Health visitor is struck off Hearing on child protection concerns
A NHS Forth Valley health visitor has been struck off for failing to report a child protection concern to police and social services.
Emily Whitelaw’s ‘actions and omissions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse’, a Nursing and Midwifery Council fitness to practise committee hearing decided.
The two-day hearing in London was told how on June 16, 2015, a family support worker told Miss Whitelaw a mother alleged her child had been sexually abused by a family member.
However, the health visitor – who worked in Clackmannanshire – told the support worker to take no action as the child had no contact with the family member and inappropriately suggested the allegations might be made up.
Miss Whitelaw failed to take any action regarding the allegation and made no record of why or how she came to that decision.
Later, in a telephone call to a colleague in social services, she misquoted the mother’s allegation, changing the sense of the statement which had been made and minimising the inference.
Her inaction in the matter came to light more than 18 months later when the chair of child protection requested information about the child in question.
An audit of Miss Whitelaw’s work – involving analysis of 226 patient records – was then undertaken and it revealed a ‘considerable number of errors in record-keeping, conducting assessments and improper delegation.’
Miss Whitelaw became a registered nurse in June 1977 and a health visitor in November, 1998. She started working as a health visitor with NHS Forth Valley in October, 2004.
In her defence Miss Whitelaw asserted she was managing two caseloads and was not properly supported.
Although she later expressed remorse for her conduct, she had at first stood by her decision that not taking any action to report the allegations of sexual abuse was the correct thing to do as she genuinely believed the allegations to be untrue.
However, the tribunal said: “The conduct in this case is fundamentally incompatible with the expectation that a reasonable member of the public would have of the standards of a registered nurse, particularly a nurse tasked with risk assessing and protecting vulnerable children in the community.”
It was felt a serious aggravating factor in the case was that by taking no action in response to the mother’s claim, Miss Whitelaw placed the child at real risk of serious ongoing sexual abuse.
The 38-page report into the hearing concluded: “Miss Whitelaw’s actions and omissions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse and such serious breaches of the fundamental tenets of the profession are incompatible with her remaining on the register.
“Allegations of suspected sexual abuse should not have been dismissed without any investigation, particularly given Miss Whitelaw’s level of experience.”
The tribunal said as an experienced health visitor and clinical practice teacher to students, she should have raised any concerns she had and by failing to do so, her conduct fell far below the standards expected of her.
It was agreed striking-off was the most ‘appropriate and proportionate’ order in this case.
Miss Whitelaw admitted seven misconduct charges and had indicated to the tribunal committee, chaired by Andrew Harvey. She no longer works for NHS Forth Valley, having indicated her intention to retire from the nursing profession.
An NHS Forth Valley spokeswoman said once the matter came to light they immediately carried out their own internal investigation and referred concerns to the Nursing and Midwifery Council.