Cumberland Hospital nurse Gordon Blair faces Health Care Complaints Commission

A nurse at a western Sydney mental health hospital had a sexually explicit conversation with a patient under his care, took the woman on a day trip and inappropriately accessed her medical records, a tribunal has found.

A nurse at Cumberland Hospital breached the trust of a vulnerable mental health patient.

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Former Cumberland Hospital mental health nurse Gordon Blair has been found guilty of professional misconduct after he allegedly had physical contact with a female patient, had inappropriate contact with her and communicated with her relatives on Facebook.

The Health Care Complaints Commission deregistered Blair after prosecuting a complaint before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal against the registered nurse who worked at the Westmead hospital.

The commission found the nurse had a sexually explicit conversation with her, bought her food, drink, underwear and toiletries and took her on a day trip to Parramatta Park, Mrs Macquarie’s Chair and South Hurstville on his day off in April 2018.

During the day off, the nurse had physical contact with the patient “including kissing passionately while seated in the car and touching each others’ legs, holding her hand while walking in the park and placing his arm around her waist as they walked”.

The tribunal found the behaviour demonstrated a breach of professional boundaries and over-involvement and he was not acting with professional integrity.

The nurse was deregistered after being labelled a predator.

“The behaviour was self-serving and predatory in nature and demonstrated lack of insight into the nature of ‘Patient A’s’ mental health problem. His behaviour was grossly inappropriate.’’

The man, who has been a nurse since 1992 and worked at Cumberland Hospital since 2015, also suggested the patient spend a weekend with him at a luxury hotel, suggested she move in with him and offered to pay for her travel to London to visit her father.

He also wrote to her grandmother and cousin via Facebook and told them he was in love with the woman, who has bipolar and schizoaffective disorder.

The tribunal’s decision found all the alleged conduct proven.

Blair admitted most of the alleged conduct but denied that he had touched the patient under her clothes.

The tribunal found that Blair’s action demonstrated a breach of professional boundaries and “a lack of insight into the inherent power imbalance between a nurse and a vulnerable involuntary patient”.

The tribunal rejected Blair’s assertion that his conduct was not in the practice of nursing because it occurred while he was not on shift at the hospital.

In its protective orders, the tribunal cancelled his registration and imposed a two-year suspension.

In a statement, the tribunal stated said that given Blair continued to lack insight into his serious breaches of professional standards and instead blamed the patient, it was satisfied that he posed a substantial risk if working in any caregiving role.

It imposed a prohibition order to further protect the public.