A NURSE who bombarded her husband’s mistress with more than 4,000 phone calls in five months has escaped punishment.
Ellen Poole, a registered nurse at Borders General Hospital, averaged 34 calls a day to t
he mobile of love rival Pauline Jackson.
Despite that the Nursing and Midwifery Council said the 51-year-old had shown remorse and should be allowed to continue working.
At the hearing of the conduct and competence committee in Edinburgh this week, Ms Poole told the panel that her husband had been having an affair with Ms Jackson.
She said that the 4,091 calls, made between November 2006 and April 2007, were to the other woman’s mobile but that she had been trying to contact her husband.
The panel heard that there was an earlier spate of 200 calls to Ms Jackson, in Consett, County Durham, between April and August, 2005 and “innumerable” calls were made between February and July, 2006, despite a restraining order.
In addition to the calls, the hearing was told that Ms Poole had convictions for breaching the peace and an incident involving the police.
In May 2007, she was convicted of breach of the peace at Jedburgh Sheriff Court and ordered to pay a £75 fine.
Ms Poole was convicted of a further three breaches of the peace and one offence of assault/molest/hindering police at the same court in March 2009.
The nurse admitted to shouting at her ex mother-in-law and her husband’s aunt in the street on two separate occasions, which led to her being arrested and taken to hospital.
Ms Poole said: “Somewhere down the line they [the police] said that I had done something to the police officer but I was very upset.”
Asked if she remembered doing anything to the police, she shook her head.
She also said that one of the breach of the peace convictions stemmed from her taking photographs of her husband’s vehicle in a car park.
Written warning
Ms Poole was suspended from Borders General Hospital in 2008 and attended a disciplinary hearing at the hospital in January 2010 where an 18 month formal written warning was put on her record.
She returned to work in January this year as a staff nurse in a stroke ward at the same hospital.
Ms Poole told the hearing she wanted to put the matter behind her.
She said: “Nursing is the only thing I can do and I think I do it well.”
John Lucarotti, representing the Nursing and Midwifery Council, said: “It is to be said that there were several breaches of court orders.
“The repetition of the same behaviour should be considered.”
The conduct and competence committee decided to take no further action, but reminded Ms Poole a note would be put on her record.
Judith Worthington, chair of the conduct committee said: “The panel has considered this case very carefully and has decided in the particular circumstances it is appropriate to take no action.
“The panel accepts that while we are dealing with a course of conduct over a two year period the events arose from and were all directly linked to Ms Poole’s particular and difficult health and domestic situation, and the context was the breakdown of a long term relationship.
“The panel accepts that Ms Poole now has a true insight into what caused her conduct and has expressed remorse which they consider to be entirely genuine.
“The consequences of Ms Poole’s behaviour are that she has to live with a criminal record and a finding of impairment against her fitness to practice.”
