Bootle mental health nurse who punched vulnerable teenager struck off

Donald Riziva assaulted the boy in his care at the Victoria Gardens Hospital in Huyton in 2019

A mental health nurse has been struck off after punching a 16-year-old patient during a night shift.

Donald Riziva assaulted the boy in his care at the Victoria Gardens Hospital in Huyton in 2019, a hearing was told.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said his actions had amounted to "unprofessional, violent conduct" which betrayed his duty of care.

Mr Riziva, from Bootle, did not attend the hearing, but said the case had caused him "trauma and after-effects".

An email sent by him to the panel ahead of the four-day proceedings said: "I feel I have done my part working as a mental health nurse.

"It has been a complete three years out of the profession and reflecting on circumstances around my suspension, I feel I am safer both physically and mentally and thus excuse myself."

Roundhouse punches

Mr Riziva, who was employed through an agency and first registered in 2008, was caring for the boy who had complex mental health needs, which included violent tendencies and required three-to-one nursing, the panel heard.

He accepted the charge of failing to correctly use de-escalation techniques when presented with challenging behaviour from the patient.

In an email to the panel, he admitted the incident had occurred and said: "With the circumstances at hand at the time, after having been headbutted, stabbed on the eye, I felt my life was in extreme danger, as the events happened in a flush of a second I acted in the heat of the moment trying to free myself from the situation."

The panel considered Mr Riziva may have responded under pressure or fear and found he provided a plausible account which included photographic evidence of an injury he sustained.

They also found it more likely than not that the patient had a pen and was using it as a weapon.

A witness statement from the former lead nurse at the specialist rehabilitation facility said the teenager headbutted Mr Riziva after the nurse put his hand on him to guide him from an office.

The nurse's evidence said Mr Riziva threw two roundhouse punches at the teenager and punched him three times, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A spokesperson for Elysium Healthcare, which runs the hospital, said: "The safety and wellbeing of our patients is our highest priority, and we will always act to ensure this is upheld.

"We set, and expect, the very highest standards from our colleagues, who occupy a position of trust caring for vulnerable people."