Nurse who had lesbian affair with self-harmer keeps job

A NURSE who had a lesbian affair with a patient she met on a secure unit has been allowed to keep her job.

Tracey Cowans, 41, shared a bed with the woman during an intimate relationship spanning 16 months, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.

Cowans had arranged to take the woman, referred to as Patient A, on holiday to Amsterdam in November 2004, but later cancelled the trip.

Patient A, a self-harmer who regularly spent time in the secure mental unit in West Park Hospital, Darlington, complained to her psychiatrist after the relationship ended.

Cowans, from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, became her nurse after she was admitted to the hospital’s Lambton ward in early 2004.

She continues to deny their relationship was romantic in nature, insisting the pair were friends and that Patient A became dependent on her.

“I didn’t think about the effects this might have had on the woman, emotionally or medically,” she said. “I fully understand the consequences and wholeheartedly regret my actions. If I was ever put in that situation again I would certainly respect boundaries.”

Cowans was charged with engaging in an inappropriate personal relationship with a patient while being employed by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust.

In particular, she is alleged to have visited the patient at home, allowed the patient to stay overnight in her own home, was seen kissing the patient in a pub and booked flights for herself and the patient to Amsterdam.

Imposing a caution order, which will remain on her record for five years, panel chairwoman Virginia Garrett said Patient A believed the pair had a full romantic and emotional relationship.

She said: “Ms Cowans ought not to have allowed this relationship to develop in the first place and she should not have allowed it to continue.”

However, she said that the relationship had occurred when Cowans was “professionally inexperienced and personally naive”.

Cowans, now a care home manager, attended the hearing in its final stages with her male partner, after absenting herself from earlier proceedings.