A NURSE has avoided suspension after being found guilty of sexually motivated misconduct towards a colleague at a nursing home.

Joseph Bannister was handed a conditions of practice order for three months after being proved of misconduct while a staff nurse at Broadoak Manor Nursing Home in Parr in August 2011.

He was also found to have made inappropriate comments about a colleague’s breasts while working at another care home in Netherton in September 2014.

In a hearing by the Conduct and Competence Committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Bannister was ruled to have pulled or grabbed at a junior colleague’s tights in a changing room after she had agreed to show him her breast to obtain a “nurse’s opinion” on a discharge.

The panel found Bannister did “grab Individual A’s tights and, albeit not intentionally, grabbed her knickers”.

Bannister admitted to making the remark “If I was single, I would” to Individual A.

The hearing also judged Bannister had said: “Don’t tell anybody I walked in on you in the changing rooms” in an attempt to conceal his conduct.

His conduct was deemed by the panel to have been “sexually motivated”. However, Bannister was cleared of accusations he had placed his hand on her buttock and made lewd remarks.

Bannister was also proved to have made inappropriate remarks to ‘Staff Nurse B’ at St Nicholas’ Nursing Home in Netherton three years later which had “caused distress”.

However, the panel dismissed the charge that his actions towards the nurse were sexually motivated and accepted his contention he was making an observation and had “blurted it out”.

Branding Bannister’s actions as “misconduct” the panel ruled Bannister had a “professional responsibility towards Individual A and Staff Nurse B” and that “your conduct represented a clear breach of these boundaries and fell below the standards expected of a registered nurse”.

The panel added there had been evidence of “remediation in the form of a training course on maintaining professional boundaries”.

It also noted there are “positive references” about Bannister’s current practice and determined it was “unlikely” Bannister would repeat the misconduct and that he had “demonstrated genuine remorse and regret”.

The ruling added: “In summary the panel concluded that a conditions of practice order is appropriate and proportionate.”