‘Threatening’ nurse sacked from Northampton mental health hospital suspended from nursing register for six months

A mental health nurse, who was sacked from a Northampton hospital, has been suspended from the nursing register for six months.

Declan Carroll was a charge nurse at Berrywood Hospital until July 2020, when he was sacked after anonymous concerns were raised about him in July 2019.

The nurse, who was in charge of a ward at the hospital, has now been subject to a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) misconduct hearing, which concluded on January 22, 2024.

The hearing looked into several charges of misconduct relating to how Mr Carroll treated colleagues, student nurses and patients, including claims that he was “aggressive” and “threatening”.

A report published on the NMC website following the hearing says that Mr Carroll denied all charges.

However, concerns raised during the trust investigation included “bullying behaviour towards student nurses and staff” and “inappropriately restricting voluntary patients to leave if they did not complete tasks instructed of them, such as showering and engaging in occupational therapy”.

According to the NMC report, the trust also found evidence of a “negative culture”, which they considered as a contributing factor as to why it had become increasingly difficult to fill vacant shifts in the ward.

The trust investigation led to Mr Carroll losing his job.

The NMC hearing was then held to consider whether Mr Carroll should face disciplinary action.

The hearing considered a number of charges relating to the time period of May 2019 to September 2019, including speaking to colleagues in an “aggressive or threatening” way on several occasions, restricting a patient’s informal leave, shaking a chair a colleague was sitting on, shouting at a colleague and more.

One colleague said they felt “intimidated, belittled, disrespected, threatened, uncomfortable and disparaged” by Mr Carroll’s behaviour.

Regarding the chair incident, Mr Carroll told the panel it was a “humorous exchange and a reciprocal banter”, however the colleague said she did not feel she had a sufficient relationship with Mr Carroll to have banter.

The panel also heard that after a colleague told the nurse he was making them uncomfortable by shouting, Mr Carroll responded with ‘I have that effect on people’, or words to that effect.

The panel found that Mr Carroll has shown “considerable insight” into his actions and remorse, had never been subject to any other disciplinary action before and has been preactacing in a non-nursing care role since his dismissal, with no further concerns raised.

However, the panel concluded that Mr Carroll’s actions fell short of the conduct and standards expected from a registered nurse and amounted to misconduct, which in turn meant his fitness to practice is impaired on public interest grounds.

The report adds: “It decided that this finding is necessary to mark the seriousness of the misconduct, the importance of maintaining public confidence in the nursing profession, and to uphold the proper professional standards for members of the nursing profession.”

The sanction imposed on Mr Carroll was a six-month suspension order, with no review. An interim suspension order of 18 months was also made. The nurse has 28 days to appeal the decision.

Read the full report on the NMC website here.