Nurse’s dismissal upheld by Court

Press, 13 June 1984, Page 4

Nurse’s dismissal upheld by Court

The dismissal of a trainee psychiatric nurse at Sunnyside Hospital after being convicted on cannabis charges has been confirmed by Mr Justice Roper in a reserved decision given in the High Court.

Donald James Nicholson, a student, applied for a review of the decisions of the Review Committee established under the Hospitals Act and the Canterbury Hospital Board confirming Mr Nicholson’s dismissal.

The application for review was heard on April 9. Mr P. J. Bartlett appeared for Mr Nicholson, Mr N. W. Williamson for the Review Committee and Mr N. Till for the Hospital Board. The first respondent, the Review Committee, was content to abide by the Court’s decision and Mr Williamson was given leave to withdraw, his Honour said.

On April 8, 1980, when he was 24, Mr Nicholson began employment with the board ana on October 28 of that year he was convicted in the District Court on charges of cultivating and

being in possession of cannabis. He was fined $5OO.

The medical superintendent at Sunnyside, Dr J. A. Begg, and the principal nurse, Mr L. B. Thomas, discussed the conviction with Mr Nicholson and formed the view that his employment should be terminated. That recommendation was accepted by the board’s medical superintendent-in-chief and its health services committee, said his Honour, who then outlined the procedures adopted by Mr Nicholson to challenge his dismissal.

After a hearing by the appeal committee it was stated in the minutes that it was agreed that Mr Nicholson’s first ward assessment showed him to be an able trainee nurse.

However, his attitude towards the law relating to the use of drugs made him unsuitable for employment as a trainee nurse. Because of his attitude he could not be employedwithin certain areas of the hospital and therefore would not be able to satisfy the curriculum requirements to complete his training.

Mr Nicholson’s conviction for drug offences meant that he could not be recommended, in the terms of the Nurses’ Act, for registration as of being of good character and reputation and a fit and proper person to be registered.

It was the unanimous decision of the committee that Mr Nicholson’s appeal be

dismissed and that his dismissal from employment with the board be confirmed.

Although there were errors of procedure on the part of the board, and assuming for that purpose that the Review Committee’s errors of law were a basis for an order setting aside its report, he was satisfied that the equitable remedies sought should be refused. From start to finish the whole inquiry had been bedevilled by fine procedural points and as a result the reasons for Mr Nicholson’s dismissal and the nature of his grievances against it had taken second place. According to a report Mr Nicholson’s involvement with cannabis was hardly a chance encounter. It involved possession of 51 plants and 378 seeds. Further, it seemed that Mr Nicholson rather dismissed his conviction as being of little consequence and arising from an outmoded law. Some months before his conviction Mr Nicholson had attended a lecture by the principal nurse when nurse trainees were told of the board’s policy regarding drugs and the possible consequences if they became involved. The dismissal was considered by and had the support of the principal nurse, the medical superintendent of Sunnyside, the board’s medical superintendent-in-chief, the health services committee, the appeal committee, the finance committee and the majority of the Review Committee. His Honour said that he agreed with Mr Till that reinstatement was never a realistic possibility. The application was therefore dismissed.