Following an appeal by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) to the High Court, the Court has ordered that nurse Melanie Hayes be struck off the NMC’s register.

The PSA decided to refer the case of Melanie Hayes to the High Court because it considered that the decision is insufficient to protect the public.

The details of the charges relating to Ms Hayes were the she:

  1. On a date in 2012, said to Colleague B “I have f..king had enough of those lazy bastard spear-chuckers all they do is that they sit on their fat arses reading f..king newspapers all day” or words to that effect
  2. On a date in 2012, said to Colleague B, about a patient “my brother’s got schizophrenia, I’ll tell him where he lives and get him to f..k him up” or words to that effect
  3. On 8 May 2018, said to Colleague A “Hopefully the new job will be better than this one as I will be working with a team of white people” or words to that effect & “you got a f..king African who cannot manage a team and a f..king paki who cannot make clinical decisions” or words to that effect

Consensual Panel Determination

Provisional agreement of a Consensual Panel Determination (CPD) had been reached with regard to this case between the NMC and Mrs Hayes.

The agreement, which was put before the panel, sets out Mrs Hayes’s full admissions to the facts alleged in the charges, that her actions amounted to misconduct, and that her fitness to practise is currently impaired by reason of that misconduct. It is further stated in the agreement that an appropriate sanction in this case would be suspension for a period of six months with a review.

The NMC said they were “very sorry” their original suspension decision “wasn’t the right one”.

Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Executive and Registrar at the NMC, said:

“I’m very sorry that our original decision wasn’t the right one, and I know how much concern that caused. I hope people feel reassured that by recognising this and referring our decision to the PSA, we’ve now reached an appropriate outcome, with the High Court deciding that Ms Hayes should be removed from our register.

“We’re absolutely committed to learning from this and making sure that we have suitable guidance and training in place to enable us and our independent Fitness to Practise panels to make the right decisions in cases concerning racism or any other form of discrimination.”

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