Stonyhurst College nurse called student a 'little scrote'

Laura Yalda Hindle, who had been working as a healthcare manager at Stonyhurst College since 2016, has been investigated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

A collective grievance was raised by four nurses who were managed by Hindle, who accused her of misusing sensitive information, showing inappropriate conduct towards students, and dishonesty.

Hindle submitted a counter grievance towards the nurses who had raised concerns about her.

In December, 2018, her employment at the College was terminated by “mutual consent”.

In February 2017, it was said Hindle approached a student outside of a health centre, held him by the elbow in a firm grip and escorted him to the centre for an appointment while shouting at him.

Around the same time, she was said to have had an altercation with another student and called him “a little scrote” or words to that effect.

She was also accused of describing a student as “bad news”, or words to that effect, to colleagues.

Hindle was also said to be dismissive towards students who expressed mental health problems.

The accusations levelled at Hindle also accused her of “displaying intimidating behaviour” and speaking in an “aggressive manner” towards students.

According to the report, one student attended the health centre “in a distressed state” and was reportedly “shouted at in a loud, aggressive manner” and told to “stop being silly”, or words to this effect.

On September 5, 2017, Hindle was accused of not following the correct and appropriate procedure used to record of a patient's prescription.

According to the report, she inaccurately recorded a prescription of 36mgs of Concerta was "stopped", when it should have been labelled as discontinued and returned to the pharmacy.

Hindle admitted to failing to ensure the correct procedure was being followed in relation to locking and storing medication in the controlled drugs cupboard.

As well as these accusations, another student who complained of a neck pain was made to move their neck from side to side, which is not the correct procedure for a possible neck injury.

Another student who had a possible head injury or concussion was reportedly made to elevate their legs, which was not the correct procedure that should have been adopted.

Hindle was also accused of breaking student confidentiality and asking colleagues to “tell a white lie” to senior management if they were asked whether additional staffing was still required in response to a viral outbreak.

The panel concluded students were “placed at an unwarranted risk of harm as a result of Hindle’s misconduct”.

The report said: “Your misconduct, which included behavioural issues, medication mismanagement and dishonesty, had breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession and therefore brought its reputation into disrepute.

"It was satisfied that confidence in the nursing profession would be undermined if its regulator did not find charges relating to dishonesty extremely serious.”

The panel decided that Ms Hindle should be given a suspension order of six months.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council register will show that Hindle's registration has been suspended.

The panel decided to impose an interim suspension order, meaning a nurse will have their registration suspended and can't practise while this is in place, for a period of 18 months in order to cover any potential appeal period.

If no appeal is made, then the interim suspension order will be replaced by the suspension order 28 days after the decision of this hearing is sent in writing.

John Browne, headmaster at Stonyhurst, said: “We note the findings of the Nursing and Midwifery Council regarding fitness to practise in this case and its decision to give a suspension order for six months.

“This is a historic matter, Ms Hindle’s employment with Stonyhurst was terminated in December 2018 by mutual consent, after concerns were raised with her professional medical body.

“The matters raised in relation to this hearing include practices that falls far short of our safeguarding standards and the professional codes of conduct we expect to be followed to protect the health and wellbeing of our pupils.”