A mental health nurse, Ian Brown, has been removed from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register following concerning incidents at Foxhall House in Ipswich, a low-secure unit for male offenders with mental illnesses.
During a misconduct hearing in 2019, it was revealed that Mr. Brown had taken several patients outside the facility to wash his car under the guise of “therapy”. Despite objections, Mr. Brown justified this activity as beneficial for the patients. Additionally, in a separate incident, Mr. Brown was accused of allowing a patient to abscond by opening a secure gate in the garden area.
Prior to his tenure at Foxhall House, concerns had been raised regarding Mr. Brown’s conduct while working at the Suffolk Rehabilitation and Recovery Service. Despite these concerns, he was redeployed to Foxhall House.
Although Mr. Brown resigned in October 2019, an investigation review revealed that if he had remained employed, he would have faced dismissal on grounds of misconduct. The NMC panel concluded that Mr. Brown’s actions fell significantly below expected standards and amounted to numerous breaches.
The NMC deemed it necessary to strike Mr. Brown off the register to ensure public safety and uphold the standards expected of a registered nurse. An NSFT spokesperson emphasized the importance of patient safety and expressed disappointment in Mr. Brown’s actions, confirming that appropriate internal proceedings had been followed.
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