Bolton nurse had sex with former patient

8:18am Tuesday 13th May 2008

A PSYCHIATRIC nurse had sex with one of his patients just weeks after she had been discharged from hospital.

Julian Sobey only admitted the relationship when the woman threatened to burn his home down if he broke up with her.

It also emerged during the hearing that he had had a similar relationship with a patient a few years earlier.

Mr Sobey appeared at a Nursing and Midwifery Council disciplinary hearing in London yesterday, when he denied the relationship impaired his fitness to practise.

Naliah Mears for the NMC said: "It was inappropriate for Mr Sobey to embark on a sexual relationship with her once she left the ward. It was particularly innappropriate because she had only recently been discharged, and she was still being cared for in the community."

Mr Sobey, aged 37, fell for the 22-year-old woman, known as Patient A, when she was admitted to the Royal Bolton Hospital's K2 ward in 2006.

Following her release, but while she was still being treated in the community for a borderline personality disorder, self harm and a history of taking overdoses, he invited the woman to his Horwich home.

They watched a film and drank wine before having sex.

Mr Sobey was forced to come clean after he received text messages from the woman threatening to burn his house down because he had tried to cool the relationship.

He called the police and told bosses about the relationship.

Following the admission he was suspended from his post by the Bolton, Salford and Trafford Mental Health Trust.

Dawn Farrington, deputy manager of the ward, told the hearing: "I understood it just to have been a brief thing that happened after she was discharged from hospital. I told him that having a relationship was wrong but the main thing was the death threats, so I advised him to call the police."

Mrs Farrington also admitted that Patient A liked male attention and that she "knew what she was doing".

Following the relationship Patient A's mother became concerned she might self-harm and her social worker, Havinder Mann referred her for counselling.

Mr Sobey admits having sexual intercourse with the woman on May 19, 2006. She was admitted to the ward on April 21, 2006 and discharged on May 2.

Proceeding

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