RAF doctor faces being struck off for ‘emotional relationship’ with airman
A CIVILIAN GP working on an RAF base faces being struck off after she had an “emotional relationship” with a married serviceman, a tribunal has heard.
Dr Julien Nash admitted she had fallen in love with the unnamed man as they bonded over a shared love of wildlife while she was treating him at RAF Cosford in Shropshire.
Although the pair did not became physically intimate, Dr Nash and the serviceman would take regular lunch- time walks over an eight-month period and she sent him one message saying: “I saw u too and I heard ur beep and my heart jumped because I love you.”
Another text she sent read: “Hello darling it was so wonderful at lunchtime.”
The couple were photographed kissing during one of their walks.
The 54-year-old from Bridgnorth, who is married, appeared at a tribunal judging her fitness to practice. She admitted having an emotional relationship with the serviceman, identified only as Patient A, between Sept 2015 and April 2016.
The hearing was told Dr Nash turned herself in to the General Medical Council (GMC) after the serviceman’s estranged wife made a formal complaint.
Under GMC guidelines, doctors must keep a professional boundary with patients and “not pursue a sexual or improper emotional relationship”.
Chloe Fairley, for the GMC, told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester: “In Nov 2015, she engaged in a kiss with patient A and following that she advised him that she should no longer be his doctor. As part of the investigation a photograph was obtained of the two kissing and also recovered was a text message exchange.”
Dr Nash told the hearing that when she received the complaint, she had a meeting with a colonel in charge of her.
She said: “I was told that things like this happen in the military all the time – he was laughing and said I would be absolutely fine.
“At the time I didn’t realise where I was, it was only when the complaint was made that I woke up and realised what had happened.”
She said: “A patient and a doctor should not be kissing and I wanted to carry on with the friendship, but not to pursue it in any other way.”
Dr Nash’s lawyer said: “When they exchanged a kiss she felt they had crossed a line and she asked for him to see another doctor. He couldn’t move to another practice because of the distance and he required an RAF practice.” The hearing continues.