A NURSE has been struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register after having a sexual relationship with one of her patients.

An NMC disciplinary panel found that Julie Kirby, who worked at Bridport Medical Centre, had a carried out a, sexually motivated, internal vaginal examination on the patient that was not clinicaly justified.

The patient, referred to as Patient A, had attended appointments with Mrs Kirby since 2010; Mrs Kirby’s “inappropriate relationship” with the patient lasted between June and December 2019.

When the relationship deteriorated, it was found that Mrs Kirby had told the patient that they were being monitored every time they attended the centre - which was not true.

The panel heard that Patient A, who had ovarian cancer, had suffered emotional and psychological harm requiring counselling, as a result of Mrs Kirby’s misconduct

Mrs Kirby didn’t appear before the NMC disciplinary hearing - voluntarily absenting herself after calling the allegations “malicious and spurious”.

The hearing lasted 11 days with Mrs Kirby facing nine charges - all but one of which were found to be proved.

NMC’s disciplinary panel heard evidence from Patient A, Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group’s GP for Safeguarding, the then Deputy Practice Manager at Bridport Medical Centre, and Mrs Kirby’s line manager at the time of events.

Patient A’s witness statement contained several examples of her sexual relationship with Mrs Kirby.

At one point Patient A said: “On 2 September 2019, I picked Julie up in the layby in the evening and had sex”.

The account was found to be consistent with statements contained in the police report and Patient A’s oral evidence.

The NMC report concluded that Mrs Kirby had committed an “extremely serious” breach of professional standards.

The report said: “The panel found that this was a serious case involving dishonesty and sexual misconduct of a vulnerable patient over an extended period of time.

“This case is therefore at the upper level of seriousness. Mrs Kirby abused her position of trust and power and covered up the extent of her misconduct to her employers when things went wrong in order to preserve her career and limit her culpability.

“Further, she blamed Patient A rather than accept responsibility herself.”

In a statement, Mrs Kirby said: “Although the relationship developed consensually, I understand that as a healthcare professional I should have set and maintained clear sexual boundaries and not allowed the relationship to progress.

“…I do however accept the regulatory concerns that have been raised regarding my relationship with Patient A. I transgressed sexual boundaries with a patient which is wrong, this will never be repeated.”

Bridport Medical Centre has been approached for comment.