Nurse barred for trying to sell products to patients
Outpatient medic accessed records to get phone numbers
ABIRMINGHAM hospital nurse has been struck off for accessing patient records and contacting them to sell unlicensed supplements.
In one case, Genelda Geonzon, a nurse at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, asked a patient for their Facebook profile during a clinical consultation.
Over a six-month period, Geonzon tried to sell unlicensed herbal supplements outside her NHS role, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel heard.
During the hearing, Geonzon compared her actions to those of an Avon rep, but the panel found her conduct contained “significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse”. Between September 2021 and March 2022, it was found that Geonzon accessed patient records without clinical justification to obtain phone numbers.
She then contacted a number of patients in a bid to sell them unlicensed and non-prescribed supplements and herbal treatments.
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the QE, confirmed in the hearing that Geonzon was sacked after an investigation. She joined the trust in 2009 and was employed as a bandfive nurse.
During the time spanned by the investigation, she was working as a nurse in the outpatient unit.
Her duties included co-ordinating clinics, helping with biopsies, removing drains and looking after acutely-ill patients.
But she had another line of work outside of her role with the trust.
The NMC did note that there was nothing wrong in principle with a secondary occupation, but decided Geonzon’s actions “crossed the boundary” between her role as a
nurse and her separate business interest in selling the product.
The product itself was not medication, but described as a “supplement-type product in the form of a powder” that came in a sachet, to be mixed with water. The panel found the product was not licensed or approved as any sort of treatment in the UK.
Arthur Lo, representing Geonzon, said she quickly admitted her actions and had shown “remorse and insight”.
She also wrote a reflective piece where she demonstrated how her actions had an impact, the panel was told.
But the panel found the nurse made “persistent contact” with patients, some of whom were vulnerable, for her own gain.
Members told her: “Your persistence in contacting patients over extended periods of time was a clear indication you were driven primarily by a wish to sell your product.”
Documents from the hearing said: “The panel has considered this case very carefully and has decided to make a striking-off order. It directs the registrar to strike you off the register.”
She was also given an interim suspension order for 18 months.