A nurse who addressed a mental health patient as “nigger” was given an unfair serious misconduct warning, the Employment Relations Authority has ruled. In addition to the name calling incident, six weeks later nurse Stephen Reader also handed a knife to the same patient and said: “Don’t do it.” Both instances upset the inmate at the forensic mental health unit in Christchurch. He was particularly disturbed by the second one because his most serious offence involved a stabbing. The ERA found Canterbury District Health Board’s decision to issue Mr Reader with a written warning and notifying the Nursing Council were unjustified. In fact, the authority went on to suggest that the initial course of action, which involved a written apology from the nurse and providing training, would have sufficed.
