Sexual health nurse failed to disclose test results

David Allen had worked as a senior health advisor at a sexual health clinic in Wakefield, the hearing was told

A sexual health nurse who failed to tell patients and their partners of positive test results for sexually transmitted infections should be struck off, a professional hearing was told.

David Allen made incorrect entries and omitted information when updating patient records, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard.

Mr Allen, who worked at Wakefield Integrated Sexual Health Services, also posted abusive and inappropriate messages about colleagues online.

The NMC found his actions could have resulted in a real risk of harm to patients and had been "a flagrant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse".

The NMC panel, which met earlier in July, heard the discrepancies dated back to 2018 and involved 18 cases.

When a person has tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease, guidelines said any current or past sexual partners should be informed, which is called partner notification.

The NMC panel found that on 18 occasions, Mr Allen had failed to complete the partner notification and had falsely indicated he had done so.

Witness statements submitted implied Mr Allen had done this to improve key performance indicators (KPIs), which measure how NHS screening programmes are performing.

One two occasions, he also failed to notify patients who had tested positive for gonorrhoea.

In October 2018, Mr Allen breached information governance when sending a text message to a patient which contained sensitive data.

The NMC said Mr Allen's conduct had indicated a repeated and sustained pattern of behaviour as opposed to isolated mistakes or errors.

The panel was told Mr Allen had also shared abusive and inappropriate comments about his colleagues on social media, referring to one of them as a "homophobic man hater" and calling the other a "vile evil cow".

'Misleading'

In their conclusion, the panel said: "Mr Allen knew that his actions were capable of creating a false and misleading impression that the mandatory partner notification process had been completed when it had not.

"The panel concluded that it was most likely that Mr Allen knowingly recorded partner notifications when he had not done so, that this was dishonest and that his reasons for doing so was to improve the associated KPIs."

All but one sub-charge of the 23 allegations brought against Mr Allen were found proved.

He was suspended from the register pending a 28-day appeal period, after which a permanent striking-off order will come into force.

As of September 2021, Mr Allen, who resigned from his role in February 2019, was volunteering in a non-health related setting, the NMC said.

A spokesperson for Spectrum Community Health CIC, which runs Wakefield Integrated Sexual Health Services, said it initiated an investigation and referred the case to the NMC.

"The safety and wellbeing of our service users is our utmost priority. We take incidents of misconduct very seriously and strive to ensure a safe and trustworthy environment for all those who rely on our services," the spokesperson added.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].