Swindon nurse struck off after carrying out unnecessary examinations on children
Ashley Boyd worked as a nurse at Swindon's Great Western Hospital from 2019 to 2024
A Swindon nurse has been struck off after he carried out unnecessary examinations on children.
Ashley Boyd worked as a Band 5 Nurse at Swindon's Great Western Hospital from 2019 to 2024 and was suspended in January 2024 after the allegations came to light.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council Fitness to Practise Committee heard allegations that Mr Boyd carried out intimate examinations on child patients when he was not authorised to do so and when he had been told not to perform them.
The panel also heard that some of the examinations were carried out for Boyd's own sexual gratification.
Wiltshire Police said they carried out an initial investigation before being advised by the Crown Prosecution Service to refer the case back to the hospital for an internal investigation.
The forced added that now this has concluded they are liaising with the Hospital Trust to decide whether a criminal investigation should follow.
Mr Boyd qualified as an Adult nurse in July 2019 and was not qualified as a children's nurse.
He requested to work on the Trust Paediatric Assessment Unit and and the paediatric area of the Emergency Department.
The incidents happened between 3 January 2023 and 30 August 2023 when Mr Boyd was employed as a triage nurse in the paediatric assessment unit.
Mr Boyd's job was to take observations like monitoring heart rate and blood pressure as well as to gather basic information about patients.
The committee heard allegations that he carried out a number of intimate genital examinations, which were not within his job description.
After a hospital investigation in December 2020, Mr Boyd was interviewed by Wiltshire Police in August 2023 before the case was referred to the NMC.
Mr Boyd admitted the following misconduct charges:
- performing intimate examinations on child patients when not authorised to do so and when not clinically indicated
- performing intimate examinations on child patients when told not to perform them
- Keeping inadequate and/or insufficient records relating to the intimate
- examination on one or more occasions.
- Failing to give a a child patient their nebuliser as prescribed by colleague
- without discussing it with that Colleague
He denied the following misconduct charges but both were found proven by the panel:
- That his conduct was dishonest in that he knew should not to conduct intimate examinations but continued to do so
- That some or all of his conduct was sexually motivated in that it was carried out for sexual gratification.
It was concluded by the panel that Mr Boyd's conduct amounted to series misconduct.
As a result he was struck off.
The panel noted that Mr Boyd had provided some evidence of reflection and remediation including CPD training.
However, the panel decided that, in his reflective pieces he continued to attempt to justify his actions.
It also considered that the courses he had attended were, in general, generic and did not go to remedying his serious misconduct.