Paramedic 'discriminated' against foreign workmate

Fiona Turner, pictured in 2013, was working for South Central Ambulance Service when the allegations were made in 2017

A paramedic made a colleague feel "small" and "discriminated against" for being from a different country, a professional conduct hearing has heard.

Fiona Turner's behaviour towards four workmates in 2017 was "deplorable", a panel for the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service said.

The panel ruled Miss Turner's actions constituted misconduct, and her fitness to practise was impaired.

It sanctioned her by imposing an 18-month conditions of practise order.

This order requires her to work with a mentor to create a personal development plan designed to improve how she communicates with colleagues.

Miss Turner, who has been a paramedic for 15 years, worked for South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), which covers Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and Buckinghamshire, at the time of the allegations.

The panel was told she was arguing with a colleague in an ambulance garage when she swore at him and made a derogatory remark which referred to him being from a different country.

The panel said her colleague had "felt discriminated against on the basis of his nationality".

On another occasion, a second colleague said he was told off by Miss Turner for following "normal practice" at the scene of a call-out by taking a green response bag from the ambulance.

He told the panel Miss Turner was speaking to two police officers when she turned around and said: "Are you stupid or deaf? I told you to leave all bags on the ambulance."

'Deeply sorry'

She was also found to have used an expletive to a third colleague and stated in front of a patient that the opinion of a fourth colleague, who was an emergency care assistant, "cannot be trusted".

Miss Turner told the panel she accepted its findings, was "mortified" by her behaviour during the three-month period covered by the allegations, and was "deeply sorry".

The panel said it found Miss Turner's remorse "compelling".

The tribunal heard she had previously been found to be competent by a tribunal panel after attending the scene of a car crash in 2011.

She left SCAS in December 2017 and has been doing locum work since.