East Midlands ambulance paramedic squeezed colleague's breast

A paramedic has been suspended for eight months after he squeezed a colleague's breast and inappropriately touched her bottom.

Joel Warwick also twice tried to kiss her and asked her to "bend over" a photocopier machine, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) said.

He denied misconduct and said it was mutual flirting at an East Midlands Ambulance Service base in Lincolnshire.

The panel said his actions in 2015 were so serious it had to suspend him.

The tribunal hearing on 4 April was told that Mr Warwick had removed a pen from the 'V' of his colleague's blouse and squeezed her breast when he placed the pen back into her blouse.

'Good character'

On another occasion Mr Warwick told the complainant he "needed a hug".

He started working at the Spalding station in August 2014 and claimed both he and his colleague had "engaged in flirtatious behaviour".

In reaching its conclusion the HCPC said the panel acknowledged Mr Warwick was "of good character", with an "otherwise unblemished career".

It also accepted that he had apologised to the complainant shortly afterwards.

Panel chair Claire Bonnet said: "Mr Warwick had demonstrated limited insight into how his actions transgressed professional boundaries.

"His misconduct was so serious that the need to uphold professional standards and public confidence in the profession and the regulatory process would be undermined if a finding of impairment was not made in these circumstances," she added.