Nurse who told colleague her 'breasts were a good size' and that he 'fancied a patient' struck off

A mental health nurse who told a colleague her breasts were “a good size” and said he fancied a patient, has been struck off. Antony Edward Mann also asked the colleague, a student nurse, whether her breasts were real and whether she had tattoos or piercings in places people couldn’t see.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council professional standards committee found his comments towards a junior colleague, while working on the Taliesin Ward at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, were sexually motivated. The panel found five separate allegations against Mann proved and amouted to misconduct.

Mann, who qualified as a nurse in 1991, was working on the Taliesin Ward with the student nurse at the time of the allegations. He was not present at the hearing from April 15-19 and did not formally respond to the allegations. Download WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android.

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The panel agreed to hold the hearing without Mann attending after being told that when the NMC notified him of the charges in 2023 he emailed back responding “just take me off the register”. When the NMC again contacted him this year he emailed: “I’m not in the slightest (sic) interested. Stop sending this bull****. Strike me off and f***k off.”

At the time of the allegations, in 2019, Mann was employed as a full time Band 5 Staff Nurse on the Taliesin Ward and had worked for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board since 2013. He was fired on January 24 2022 after an internal investigation.

The panel heard that in September 2019 Mann made several sexually suggestive comments to Colleague A, a student nurse. It was alleged that he first asked her if she had any piercing in places that he could not see under her uniform.

It was also alleged that Mann was staring at Colleague A’s breasts. He asked her if her breasts were real and/or cosmetically enhanced, and then suggested that her breasts were a good size.

The hearing was told that on October 22 2019 there was allegedly a further instance of discussion with Colleague A during which Mann said that women with bipolar disorder can be sexually inhibited when they become unwell. It is alleged that Mann, at this time, referred to a previous Patient (Patient B) on the Ward, allegedly saying that he was attracted to her and felt that the feelings were reciprocated.

A witness told the panel Mann described Patient B as “young, blonde, had a good body and was attractive”. The committee heard also that on a night shift between November 3 2019 and November 4 2019, Mann was the nurse in charge (NIC) on the ward and the only nurse on shift, when a another patient (Patient A) had an unwitnessed fall and was subsequently found on the floor.

It was alleged that Mann did not carry out any observations, record the fall as he should, or request the on call doctor. The committee was told that Mann had denied all the allegations during internal investigations and meetings, but did subsequently admit that he had made comments regarding his junior colleague’s breasts and piercings.

The panel made specific reference to internal meeting notes dated and signed by Mr Mann on 14 March 2021 which said: “Mr Mann stated that his comments were not intended to be inappropriate, he did recall the conversation and confirmed that this had been the topic of that conversation and that he had made those comments, he went on to state that comments similar to these are often made between staff on Taliesin ward and that the majority of staff take part in this type of conversation.”

However, the panel said it found no evidence that there was a culture of this kind of talk on the ward.

The committee found the following charges against Mann proved:

• In September 2019, he behaved in an inappropriate manner toward Colleague A

• Asked Colleague A whether they had any piercings or tattoos in places no one could see, or words to that effect.

• Asked Colleague A whether their breasts were real or cosmetically enhanced, or words to that effect.

• Told Colleague A their breasts were a “good size”, or words to that effect.

The panel also found his actions above were:

• Sexual in nature;

• Sexually motivated in that he sought sexual gratification by his actions.

On or around 22 October 2019, the panel also found he behaved in an inappropriate manner, in that he:

• Told Colleague A that he reciprocated feelings of attraction towards a patient who had previously been in his care, or words to that effect;

• Said he could not be in a relationship with a woman who had a mental health diagnosis, or words to that effect

His actions above were:

• Sexual in nature;

• A breach of professional boundaries.

Between 2 and 5 November 2019 with respect of Patient A:

• He did not request that an on-call doctor attend to examine Patient A.

• He did not update the Falls Pathway documents to show the unwitnessed fall.

• He did not complete a Datix (incident review and management form) for the unwitnessed fall

• He failed to make a timely entry in Patient A’s notes regarding the unwitnessed fall.

• He failed to provide an adequate/accurate nursing handover; in that he not mention Patient A’s unwitnessed fall.

Mann was struck off. If no appeal is made an interim suspension order against him will be replaced by the striking off order 28 days after Mr Mann was sent the decision of the hearing.

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