Durham nurse sexually harassed and abused colleagues

In a 188-page report released by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), nurse Louise Aslett was found to have intimidated and bullied staff members, acted inappropriately in the workplace, and sexually harassed colleagues between 2017 and 2021.

Aslett has undressed in front of colleagues, used obscene swearwords, pushed her bottom onto staff members, and discussed sex, sex toys and sexual positions. 

She had also made explicit and obscene comments about patients in conversation with other staff members. 

She worked at Appletree Hospital and Lindisfarne Care Home, both in Durham, and Barrington Lodge Nursing Home, in Bishop Auckland. 

Aslett was let go from a string of senior nursing roles after colleagues made complaints, and was subject to a three-year interim suspension as the NMC investigated allegations. 

But Aslett, who told the NMC's 'fitness to practice' panel that she wanted to work as a registered nurse again, emphasised that coaching her new job as a management trainer at a hospice has helped her grow as a professional. 

She is now subject to an 18-month-long conditions of practice order. This means that she can work as a nurse whilst following the conditions of the order - such as writing a reflection on her work every six weeks. 

The panel believed that striking her from the nursing register would be "inappropriate, disproportionate and draconian", as there was no evidence of ongoing concerns.

Whilst a hospital manager at Appletree Hospital, in Durham, run by Cygnet Healthcare, Louise called other colleagues "lazy", "big bird", "fat lass", and used other offensive terms, contributing to a "hostile and intimidating" work environment. 

Another staff member said they felt "consistently targeted" by Aslett in the workplace. 

After three whistleblowers at the hospital reached out to management with concerns about Aslett, an internal investigation found very high staff turnover, several unsuitable patients had been admitted to Appletree, very high level of assaults, and incidents not properly reported to the CQC.

Aslett started a new jobs at Lindisfarne Care Home, but there were allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour, and sexual harassment in the workplace.

The panel had decided that Aslett had sexually harassed colleagues by getting undressed in front of men she worked with. 

She also stuck out her bottom out to make it difficult to pass by and made crude coments as she did so.

A witness said: "The room was quite narrow and when I would try and move past Louise she would bend over the desk and stick her bottom out."

At another point, she told staff that she was taking batteries home to use in her "sex toys" and used other obscenities. 

The panel said this "violated colleagues' dignity and/or created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for colleagues".

Aslett currently works as a managerial trainer. She said that, following the issues at Appletree in 2019, she had self-funded a leadership and management course, and had done refresher courses since then.

She explained that this now means she takes a more formal approach at work, and setting boundaries, and hopes to take forward these changes in practice. 

A spokesperson from Four Seasons Health Care Group, who run Barrington Lodge care home, said: "We take any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously and will always act swiftly in the best interest of our residents and team. The individual was dismissed from our employment in 2020 in line with our processes."

A Cygnet spokesperson said: Cygnet has zero tolerance for bulling or intimidation in the workplace and we take allegations of wrongdoing extremely seriously. 

"We expect the highest standards of care from our staff and the care of our patients will always remain our top priority."