Nurse Struck Off After Indecent Images Of Patients Found
An accident and emergency nurse who was found to have indecent images of young female patients lying on hospital trolleys in what are believed to be high dependency units has been struck off by a disciplinary panel.
Police discovered a disk with the images at the home of Kuljeet Drubra, a staff nurse in the A&E department of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, after he was arrested on a separate matter in 2011, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard.
The two sets of images had been taken in 2003 when Drubra had worked in several Norfolk hospitals including the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, the NMC ruled.
The first set showed a young female patient, her face not visible, lying on a ``hospital-style'' trolley wearing a gown of the type used to dress patients in hospital, lifted to show her chest and her naked breasts, according to evidence heard by the NMC.
A second image showed a rear view of the same patient with her buttocks and back exposed.
A second set of images of a different female patient showed her in what appeared to be ``hospital situation''on a trolley and showed her buttocks, genitalia and a catheter.
Senior registered nurses who examined the pictures and gave evidence at the NMC hearing said they were ``shocked and distressed'' by the images, the disciplinary panel said.
In the view of the nurses, the pictures had ``no educational purpose'' and did not demonstrate any particular clinical detail or condition, the NMC said.
``The images of both women were shown to two senior nursing staff members from the trust by the police. They confirmed that the background, gowns and trolleys were consistent with those used in a hospital,'' the NMC said.
``From the monitoring equipment visible in the background of the pictures, the staff members concluded that the pictures were probably taken in a high dependency unit of a hospital such as an accident and emergency, theatre recovery or intensive care unit.''
They could not conceive of any legitimate or professional reason for a nurse to take or store images of this nature, the NMC said.
Drubra was arrested in October 2011 and convicted the following year at Ipswich Crown Court on charges of voyeurism, possessing 30 indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornography.
He was sentenced to a three year community order, a sex offenders prevention order and a requirement to sign on the sex offenders register for five years, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The nurse, who worked for the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Healthcare Foundation Trust from October 2005, was sacked for gross misconduct in June 2012 after an investigation.
The NMC found Drubra to have been in possession of a number of ``indecent and inappropriate'' images of hospital patients between January 1 2003 and October 27 2011.
A panel of the NMC conduct and competence committee hearing in July found his fitness to practise impaired both in relation to the criminal convictions and the possession of indecent images of hospital patients.
Striking him off the register today for both the criminal convictions and the indecent pictures, conduct and competence committee chairman Andrew Coleman said Drubra showed evidence of ``harmful, deep-seated personality and attitudinal problems''.
``If Mr Drubra were to remain on the register, the public would not be protected, it would seriously undermine the trust and confidence that patients have in the profession and the NMC as its regulator,'' he said.