A NURSE at the exclusive Priory rehab clinic has been struck off for having a ‘destructive’ four year relationship with a patient.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) barred Janet Wilma Toy from the profession after she admitted going for bikini waxes with a female patient who had been checked in to the £600-a-night clinic.
The 43-year-old – who called the Priory the “nut hut” – also went on exotic foreign holidays, shared a bed and sunbathed topless with the nurse, the NMC was told.
The patient, a young woman who suffered from severe depression and an eating disorder, was named only as Patient A at an NMC hearing in Edinburgh.
The NMC said Toy “did not demonstrate true remorse and a true acknowledgement of the consequences of her behaviour”.
They found 33 of the 34 charges against her proved, after she admitted 13 in a letter to the conduct committee.
Explaining their decision, the NMC said Toy had: “a duty to maintain appropriate professional boundaries and in this duty [she] failed.
“[Toy’s] conduct in exchanging emails and mobile phone text messages with Patient A, going shopping with Patient A and asking Patient A to return clothes for her, sleeping at Patient A’s home in Patient A’s bed with Patient A and going on numerous holidays with Patient A are all examples of [Toy] breaching this duty.”
The NMC statement continued: “[Toy’s] behaviour is fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the register and public confidence in the profession would be undermined should the registrant remain on the register.
“The Striking Off Order is necessary in the interests of public safety and protection.”
Trust
Giving evidence from behind a screen at the hearing, Patient A told how the nurse ‘made her feel special’, after she was booked into the Priory clinic in Glasgow in 2004.
The patient also described boozy foreign holidays with Toy, of Carluke in South Lanarkshire, but said Toy did not pay her for flights to Tenerife.
She said: “She said: “I paid for the flights for us to go to Spain and Wilma did not give me money for this.
“I thought this was unusual but I thought things might be different at the Priory.
“She would get very drunk and expect me to drink with her.
“I could not drink as much as her and would often pour drinks on the floor when she was not looking.”
She added: “When we were on holiday we used to sleep in the same bed. However there was nothing sexual about it.”
In one incident, Patient A said she and Toy went together to have a “Hollywood” bikini wax.
She told the hearing: “She said we should get a Hollywood wax.
“We each had Hollywood waxes in front of each other.”
Patient A also claimed that Ms Toy criticised patients and the Priory.
“She referred to the Priory at the nut hut, which I found offensive, especially as I was a patient there,” she said.
According to Patient A, their relationship broke down in 2007, when she refused to go with Toy to exotic Indian holiday spot in Goa.
“She said I had broken her trust by choosing an eating disorder over her,” said Patient A.
“She complained that she had no one to go with. She texted me from India and I remember I found the contents of these massages very upsetting.
“Wilma sent me a card apologising for the messages but I ripped it up and threw it in the bin.
“At this point I found our relationship was destructive and I was angry with her.”
The NMC confirmed today (tue) Toy had been struck off.
Though she was not present at the hearing, she sent a letter admitting to 13 of the 44 charges against her.
The only charge not proved was one that Toy disclosed inappropriate information about herself to Patient B.
