Prestwich Hospital: Nurse went on racist rant at Edenfield Centre

Neill Gold called a foreign co-worker “a foreign c***” over the course of the outburst a little more than two years ago.

Mr Gold was a nurse at the Edenfield Centre, a mental health unit run by Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust.

He also called a ward manager “a useless c***” and swore in earshot of others including some patients.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council struck him off at a tribunal between May 15 and May 25 this year.

The tribunal heard from a number of witnesses such as a healthcare worker who relived the racist rant.

The healthcare worker said: “[Mr Gold] was shouting about how staff cannot do their job properly saying ‘That [colleague] is a useless c***’.

“Then he shouted ‘That foreign c*** in there on the f***ing radio can’t speak f***ing English properly, I can’t understand a word he says’.”

A matter of months after the outburst Mr Gold asked a colleague to forge his signature to cover up a mistake on a medication card. 

He left a ward while on duty, without telling his manager, to correct the mistake after the colleague refused to forge his signature.

A ruling by the tribunal said: “The panel considered that the concerns involved were not a single incident of misconduct, rather several incidents of a different nature, over a period of time. There is evidence of deep-seated attitudinal concerns in this case.

“The panel considered that Mr Gold has shown no evidence of insight, remorse or remediation in respect of his actions and his understanding of the impact they had, and could have further had, on colleagues, patients and the public. 

“The panel considered that there is a real risk of harm and a high risk of repetition in this case. The conduct, as highlighted by the facts found proved, was a significant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse. 

“The panel noted that the serious breach of the fundamental tenets of the profession evidenced by Mr Gold’s actions is fundamentally incompatible with him remaining on the register.”

The Edenfield Centre was rocked by scandal last year when Alan Haslam, a reporter for BBC Panorama, went undercover at the unit and unearthed a culture of abuse and bullying.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust sacked or suspended a number of workers and the trust worked with partners such as NHS England to come up with an improvement plan. Neil Thwaite, its chief executive, announced his resignation two months ago.

Juliette Tait, director of HR at the trust, said: “Our trust does not tolerate misconduct of any kind, and will act upon all and any concerns appropriately in order to protect the safety of our patients.

“We fully cooperated with the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s investigation and we are satisfied with the outcome.”

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email [email protected] or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.