An NHS nurse who failed to call an ambulance for a patient who died during a liaison in a hospital car park has been struck off.
Married Penelope Williams, 42, had hidden her 12-month affair with the man who was a dialysis patient under her at an NHS hospital in Wrexham, North Wales.
And when he blacked out in the back of his car in a private hospital car park while they had a secret midnight rendezvous she did not call 999 but instead contacted another nurse to perform CPR, a disciplinary hearing was told.
The pair had had a year-long sexual relationship before he suffered a heart attack with his trousers around his ankles during the late night tryst with Williams, the panel heard.
She then failed to call 999 for medical help but instead was "crying and distressed" when she rang another nurse - identified only as Colleague 1 - to perform CPR on the semi-naked man identified only as Patient A.
The presenting officer told the hearing: "Colleague 1 arrived at the student nursing car park at where she met Mrs Williams.
"She could see a man in the back of a car who was Patient A. Colleague 1 went to check Patient A who was unresponsive so she called 999 asking for the police and ambulance as Mrs Williams had not already called for an ambulance which Colleague 1 had suggested during their phone call.
"The 999 call handler advised Colleague 1 to perform CPR. When they took Patient A out of the car his trousers were down. Patient A subsequently died from heart failure and chronic kidney disease triggered by a medical episode.
"Mrs Williams stated to the police and paramedic in attendance that Patient A messaged her on Facebook explaining he was unwell and so she came to meet him. Later on 9 January 2022, Mrs Williams gave a different account as to how she was at the scene.
"In a statement to the police she revealed that she and Patient A were in a sexual relationship and that they had previously arranged to meet at the car park that evening."
Williams - who has a partner - later said they had been in the car for 35 to 40 minutes - but then he "started groaning and suddenly died."
The panel heard Williams worked in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales as a registered nurse in a renal haemodialysis unit since October 2019.
But she met the patient in the student nursing car park in Wrexham in January 2022 - and called for help at 23.56pm when he blacked out.
The NMC hearing was told he died from “heart failure and chronic kidney disease triggered by a medical episode”.
The health board chiefs called Williams for a hearing were she admitted to having an intimate relationship with Patient A which she did not disclose.
The Health Board panel expressed concern that “Mrs Williams did not call an ambulance following Patient A’s collapse even when Colleague One advised her to” and fired her.
Williams has been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council who warned she had “brought the nursing profession into disrepute”.
It ruled she breached guidance on clear sexual boundaries.
The hearing was told that between January 2021 and January 2022 she had breached three rules - entered into an intimate and/or sexual relationship with Patient A, communicating with Patient A via Facebook and/or on the telephone and met up with Patient A outside of the working environment.
The panel said: “Mrs Williams has acted to put patients at risk of harm by failing to contact emergency services when the patient became unwell and when prompted by her colleague.
“Mrs Williams has brought the nursing profession into disrepute and breached one of the fundamental tenets of the profession by engaging in an intimate relationship with a patient in breach of guidance on clear sexual boundaries.”
She was banned for a minimum of 18 months when she can reapply.
An earlier version of this story stated that the incident happened in the car park at Spire Wrexham Nursing based on inaccurate information from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). This was based on information the NMC received during their investigations, which we now know to be inaccurate. The incident had no connection to Spire Yale Hospital premises or any of its staff, nor did Mrs Williams work for Spire.
