A Nigerian nurse who exchanged sexually explicit videos with a patient over WhatsApp and sent a photo of a naked child to a colleague is facing losing her licence in the United Kingdom.
Folasade Abimbola Akano had an “inappropriate relationship” with the man while he was being treated for kidney failure at Guy’s Hospital in central London.
The patient often sent videos to her with the message “I’m going to send you a video. You are going to like it”.
On May 9, 2014 the man sent her a sick photo of a naked child along with another video and Akano forwarded both of them to a healthcare assistant.
She was reported to police after a ward clerk caught sight of the photo while being shown the video and reported it to her manager.
The nurse was arrested at work on the Astley Cooper dialysis unit on June 2, 2014 and interviewed at Walworth police station under caution.
She initially claimed that both the child and the adult in the indecent image were clothed but later accepted it was indecent.
Akano claimed that she had intended to delete the image and forwarded it by accident instead of sending a text confirming that she would lend her colleague some money.
No criminal charges were ever brought against her.
Akano told the Nursing and Midwifery Council she first met the male patient at a relative’s funeral in Nigeria in 2000 and they had stayed friendly since, exchanging photos and stories of their respective families.
But the panel rejected her version of events after hearing that she told police that she first met him in 2006 when he was a patient at Camberwell dialysis unit.
The patient underwent a transplant at Guy’s hospital in 2013 and remained on the dialysis unit under Akano’s care.
He is likely to remain at the unit for the rest of his life, the hearing is told.
Panel chair Linda Stone accepted that there might have been good reasons for them becoming friendly as they both came from Nigeria.
But she added: “All the patients on that unit were potentially your patients and you should have behaved accordingly.
“You should not have exchanged numbers with Patient A and you should have advised your managers of your developing friendship at that time.
“The nature of the relationship was inappropriate in that it involved exchanging sexually explicit material. You appear to have done nothing to stop this exchange before your arrest.”
Akano admitted possessing an indecent image of a child and forwarding it to a colleague, but denied engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a patient.
That charge was found proved and the panel must now decide if Akano’s fitness to practice is currently impaired.
The hearing continues.
