A NURSE at the £600-a-night Priory Clinic had a four-year “inappropriate” relationship with a patient, sharing a bed, going for a bikini wax with her, and enjoying at least three foreign holidays.
Staff nurse Janet Wilma Toy, 43, regularly stayed over at the patient’s home, telling her on one occasion to “make sure…my pyjamas are warm”.
The nurse also asked the patient to sunbathe topless and went on several shopping trips with her, asking the woman to buy her “items” on “numerous occasions”.
The prestigious private clinic, in the south side of Glasgow, treats patients for conditions ranging from drug dependency to gambling addiction and eating disorders.
But the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) says Toy referred to the Priory as the “nut hut”.
Toy is alleged to have engaged in an inappropriate relationship with “Patient A” between 2004 and 2008.
The NMC, which is due to hear the full case at a hearing in Edinburgh later this month, claims Toy’s fitness to practice is “impaired by reason of your misconduct”.
The Priory’s own guidelines are believed to state that staff cannot have a relationship with anyone who has been a patient within two years.
The charges against Toy, which have been published in full on the NMC’s website, state that she gave the patient her personal email address while working at the hospital in December 2004. Numerous emails, texts and phone calls followed.
The following month, Toy is accused of encouraging “Patient A to discharge herself from the hospital contrary to other practitioners’ advice”.
The charges state that, on “numerous occasions”, Toy:
*Slept over at Patient A’s home and in Patient A’s bed with Patient A;
*Instructed Patient A to ‘make sure the electric blanket is on and my pyjamas are warm’ or words to that effect; and
*Referred to the Hospital as ‘the nut hut’ or words to that effect, in conversations with Patient A.
According to the charges, in July 2005, Toy “went on a holiday to Tenerife with Patient A and did not pay Patient A for the flights”.
Topless
And on another holiday, to Turkey, Toy “suggested that Patient A sunbathe topless”.
Toy and the patient had planned a long-haul trip together to the exotic Indian destination of Goa.
The charges state: “In February 2007, when Patient A informed you that she could not go to Goa with you, you said she was ‘choosing your eating disorder over me’ or words to that effect.”
It is also alleged that “on numerous occasions” Toy went shopping with Patient A and asked her “to return clothes to shops for you”.
On an unknown date in 2005 or 2006, according to the charges, Toy “went for a bikini wax with Patient A and/or disclosed to the beauty therapist that Patient A had been abused when she was younger or words to that effect”.
Toy is also accused of giving the patient confidential information about other people receiving treatment at the clinic.
One charge states that “during the holiday in July 2005, you disclosed confidential information about prisoners, including Prisoner D, at Barlinnie Prison to Patient A”.
Another adds that “on an unknown date in 2006, you brought a letter that Prisoner D had written to Patient A’s house and allowed her to read it”.
Toy is also alleged to have boasted about getting drugs from the Priory.
“You informed Patient A’s mother that you could ‘get her any medication she wanted from the medicine cupboard at the Priory’ or words to that effect,” states the charge.
Opened in 1993, the Priory Hospital in Glasgow specialises in mental health issues.
It has 47 beds and a team of psychiatrists and therapists.
Priory clinics elsewhere in the UK are best known for their celebrity clientele.
It was reported in 2008 that four members of staff at the Glasgow clinic had been engaged in sexual relationships with patients.
According to the reports, two nurses quit, a third was sacked and a fourth was disciplined over the allegations.
A female nurse was said to have quit when she began a sexual relationship with a female patient who had an eating disorder.
One male nurse quit after he forged a relationship with a patient, gave another unprescribed drugs, and also breached patient confidentiality.
Another female staff nurse was fired over claims that she violently pinned down a patient with an eating disorder.
And a fourth male nurse, was disciplined but kept his job, for letting a high-risk patient leave the clinic without informing the consultant and failing to to follow correct procedures.
Toy angrily refused to comment today after turning up at her home in a cul-de-sac in Carluke, South Lanarkshire.
The nurse, who was driving a Toyota MR2 with a private number plate, confirmed her name before slamming the front door shut.
The hearing is due to take place at the NMC on February 20 and could last for up to four days.
A spokeswoman for the hospital said: “The welfare of our patients is our first priority and we instigated our investigation policies and procedures when a matter relating to a former member of staff was brought to our attention in 2008.
“As part of our procedures the NMC were made aware of the issues. We await the outcome of the tribunal before making further comment”
