Nurse reprimanded for unprofessional conduct

16 Dec 2016

A tribunal has reprimanded a nurse for unprofessional conduct and placed conditions on her registration after she failed to disclose relevant information when renewing her registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA).

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the tribunal) found that Ms Jean Mberi engaged in unprofessional conduct when she failed to disclose previous disciplinary proceedings against her in the United Kingdom (UK), in her application for renewal of her registration with the NMBA.

Ms Mberi’s registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council in the UK was subsequently cancelled after it found that she had engaged in dishonest conduct relating to withdrawing money from a patient’s bank account for her own personal use. Ms Mberi maintains that she did not dispute the UK allegations because she was in the process of relocating to Australia.

The tribunal accepted that the failure to disclose this information was misleading and careless or reckless, but not deliberately deceptive. The tribunal took into account that Ms Mberi had fully disclosed the UK events to her Australian employer at the earliest opportunity and had been advised by them that they would contact AHPRA.

In relation to sanction, the tribunal took into consideration a number of mitigating factors including that:

• Ms Mberi had accepted that she failed to disclose to all relevant information at an early stage,
• she had the full support of her current employer,
• she had been working in an actively supported performance development program and was undertaking ongoing professional development in addition to formal clinical supervision,
• all reports received from her employer indicated that there were no concerns regarding Ms Mberi’s honesty and fitness to practice as a registered nurse and that she was a highly valued member of staff, and
• she had not otherwise come to the NMBA’s attention since commencing practise in Australia.

The tribunal reprimanded Ms Mberi, imposed conditions requiring education in professional ethics and required that she pay the NMBA’s costs in the amount of $10,000.

The reasons for the decision have been published on the Supreme Court Library Queensland website.