A LOCAL nurse with "deep-seated issues" around dishonesty has been struck off after carrying out hundreds of smear tests on women over a two-year period, while she was unqualified.

Alison Watts, who worked at Undercliffe Surgery in Heckmondwike, was charged with carrying out 461 cervical screenings between June 2017 and November 2017 while unqualified to do so by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

She was also charged with failing to notify the surgery she had failed the cervical screening – known colloquially as a smear test – assessment between September 2015 and November 2017, lacking integrity.

There were also charges of failing to complete a personal audit of samples she had taken between these dates, as is required, failing to keep record of her RAG score on the Cervical Screening Database as required by Undercliffe Surgery, failing to notify the surgery of her green rating which amounted to dishonesty.

There was also a charge of providing forged references in January 2018 which aimed to deceive the NMC’s investigating committee.

The NMC’s panel hearing took place on January 20 virtually, and Ms Watts was not present, however it had been agreed earlier that Ms Watts made a “full admission to the facts alleged in the charges”.

In a Consensual Panel Determination (CPD), she accepted her actions were misconduct and demonstrated her fitness to practise was impaired and that being struck off was the most suitable outcome.

Ms Watts had attended a smear test training course at the University of York in 2015, performing training and observed tests, but had failed the course and failed to notify her employer while continuing to perform hundreds of unsupervised tests.

The surgery was only made aware when NHS England contacted it to tell it she had completed a training course. Watts was immediately stopped from performing smear tests.

All 461 women affected have also been offered retests.

In issuing the striking-off order, the panel said the high number of patients, prolonged period of time, potential for serious harm, dishonesty in proceedings and inconvenience to patients were all aggravating features.

The panel’s decision read: “This was not a single instance of misconduct but involved 461 patients over a two-year period.

“There is evidence of sustained dishonesty and deep-seated attitudinal issues and the panel considered that Ms Watts lacks insight into her misconduct and a risk of repetition remains.

“Ms Watts’ actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse. She carried out cervical screening procedures on 461 patients in the knowledge that she had failed the assessment which would have qualified her to do so.

“In the context of these proceedings before her regulatory body, she dishonestly submitted false references to the NMC. The panel was in no doubt that these actions are fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.

“The panel was of the view that to allow her to continue practising would put patients at risk of harm and undermine public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body.

“The panel agreed with the CPD that the appropriate and proportionate sanction is that of a striking-off order. The panel has concluded that nothing short of this would be sufficient in this case.

“The panel considered that this order was necessary not only to protect the public but to mark the importance of maintaining public confidence in the profession, and to send to the public and the profession a clear message about the standard of behaviour required of a registered nurse.”

Alison Watts was also handed an 18-month interim suspension to cover the appeal period “to ensure the protection of public”.