By Cara Sulieman and Paul Thornton
A PERVERT nurse has been struck off for hypnotising patients so he could grope them.
Iain Balsillie, 40, from Dunfermline, had already been fired from B Sky B where he worked as an occupational nurse after two female workers at the call centre claimed he tried to put them in a trance before touching them up.
Balsillie used the trigger words “drop for me” in an attempt to make women fall into his arms, after which he would grab them by the breasts and, in one case, lower the patient’s head on to his private parts.
One patient described the nurse getting so close that she could “smell the sweat on his body” during her trance.
12 months in jail
And it was revealed that after the incidents in Fife, Balsillie was convicted of a similar attack on a woman in Manchester.
It was the combination of his conviction – for which he served 12 months in jail – and the inappropriate sexual behaviour towards the two patients in Dunfermline that led to the panel’s decision.
The tribunal conducted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Conduct and Competence Committee, sitting in Edinburgh, heard from a woman who still works with B Sky B in Dunfermline, today (Weds).
The woman – referred to as Patient A – had been referred to the nurse in September 2007 for recurring back problems, and because she had taken an excessive amount of time off work for high blood pressure.
She said that she expected the meeting to result in some changes to her work station to improve her back problems.
Touch her breast
But instead, Balsillie said that he would teach her relaxation techniques to help lower her blood pressure – before hypnotising her and touching her breast whilst she was under a trance.
After taking a blood pressure reading, the sex pest carried out a standard relaxation technique, before moving on to the hypnosis.
The witness said: “I had learnt similar relaxation techniques some time before during ante-natal classes and I thought I knew what to expect.
“He told me to close my eyes and imagine myself in a happy place.
“He said to imagine I was standing on a beach with the sun on my face, looking out at the view.”
“I could smell the sweat”
The nurse then took her blood pressure again, and it had gone down.
Balsillie then told the patient that he would carry out the exercise again to prove it hadn’t been a fluke.
It was then that he started to cause her concern, moving closer to her and making inappropriate remarks.
The witness said: “The second time it was different. He was sitting right next to me – I could smell the sweat on his body and hear him breathing heavily. It was very uncomfortable.
“At one point he caught his hand or a piece of clothing on my ring.
“My arms were folded over my chest and I wondered what he was doing that he was close to my ring.
“He told me that I would become more relaxed when I heard his voice, and that I would become excited when I saw him.
“He also stated that I would not remember anything from the trance, except that his voice would make me calm, and seeing him would make me excited.”
And Patient A said that she felt “uncomfortable” because she had no control over her body.
She added: “It was like being under local anaesthetic. I was aware of things going on around me but I could not open my eyes or move my body.”
When she returned to her work station, the patient complained about Balsillie to her line manager.
But later the same day, Balsillie approached the patient on her way out of work and asked her to sign a GP consent form.
She said that although she didn’t want to see him, she went into his office but left the door open.
“Thought it was strange”
She said: “He was telling me to sit down and fill in the form, but I stated that I did not have time and I would take it with me and return it at a later date.
“He stated that he needed it the next day and would make an appointment for me to bring it to him.
“I thought that it was strange that I needed an appointment to hand in a form when I could just give it to the receptionist.”
During their conversation, Balsillie closed the door of the office and the patient became uneasy.
“Drop for me now”
She said: “When I put my hand on the doorknob to leave, he placed his hand against the door to stop me, clicked his fingers and said ‘drop for me now’.
“My legs just gave way – the next thing I remember is lying on the floor. I happened really quickly.
“As he pulled me to my feet, he placed his arms under my breasts.”
She later learned that a similar complaint had previously been made about Balsillie by another B Sky B employee.
Striking him from the register, the chairman Laurence Peterken said that Balsillie had abused the trust placed in him by his patients.
“I know nothing”
He said: “He sought to control the patients by way of hypnosis and by way of the use of control words, in particular the phrase ‘drop for me’.”
Shamed Balsillie had been unable to work because of an interim order preventing him from doing so.
At his home in Dunfermline in Fife he said: “I know nothing about any tribunal held today. I can’t comment on the allegations. All I can say is that I’ve not worked as a nurse since March 2008.
“The last year or two have not been the best.”
