Nurse who drank gin before driving escapes with caution from regulator

Nurse, 43, who drank four gins before driving her BMW slowly on a roundabout while four times the legal limit escapes with a caution from professional regulator

• Natalie Louise Robinson was convicted of drink-driving on October 25 last year 
• The 43-year-old drank four gins before getting behind the wheel of her BMW 
• She received an eight-week prison sentence suspended for a year, and was banned from driving for two years at Teesside Magistrates’ Court one year ago 
• Nursing and Midwifery Council handed her a caution as a result of the incident 
• The district nurse was allowed to return to practise despite ongoing sentence
• Regulatory body decided suspension from register would be ‘disproportionate’ 

A nurse who was caught drink-driving after police spotted her driving suspiciously has been handed a caution by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). 

Natalie Louise Robinson was convicted of drink-driving at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on October 25 last year after she drank four gins before getting behind the wheel of her BMW. 

The district nurse, from Ingleby Barwick, North Yorkshire, was arrested by police after drivers who were beeping at her alerted them to the BMW driving slowly around a roundabout. 

She had 143 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35. 

Natalie Louise Robinson was arrested by police after drivers who were beeping at her alerted them to the BMW driving slowly around a roundabout

The 43-year-old was handed an eight-week prison sentence suspended for a year, and banned from driving for two years as a result after she pleaded guilty to drink driving. She had no previous convictions. 

During the court case, it was claimed that alcohol had been used as a ‘coping mechanism’ for Ms Robinson following an ‘abusive relationship’. It was also claimed her role as a district nurse during the coronavirus pandemic resulted in ‘severe mental stress.’  

According to a report, Ms Robinson attended a misconduct hearing before the NMC last month after making a self-referral to the regulatory body. 

The report stated that she has completed training since the court case and returned to full time nursing duties.

She apologised to the NMC panel, telling them she was ‘appalled’ by her actions and gave the assurance it would not happen again. 

As a result of the hearing, she was handed a one-year caution order. The order ensures that Ms Robinson’s name will appear on the NMC register and show that she is subject to a caution order, and anyone who enquires about her registration will be informed. 

The report states: ‘The panel has determined that to impose a caution order for a period of one year would be the appropriate and proportionate response. 

‘For one year, your employer or any prospective employers will be on notice that your fitness to practise has been found to be impaired. 

The district nurse was convicted of drink-driving at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on October 25 last year

‘The caution order will mark not only the importance of maintaining public confidence in the profession, but also send the public and the profession a clear message about the standards required of a registered nurse.’

The report added that imposing a suspension order, which would suspend Ms Robinson from the NMC register, would be ‘disproportionate and punitive’. 

‘In light of its findings that your fitness to practise is impaired solely on public interest grounds, and taking into account your insight, efforts to remediate and the low risk of repetition, the panel determined that a suspension order would be disproportionate and punitive,’ the report stated. 

‘In the panel’s judgement, the public interest does not require you to be suspended from the NMC register. The panel determined that the public interest includes allowing an otherwise safe and competent practitioner to practise without restriction. 

‘In coming to this decision, the panel bore in mind that you have been working full time as a registered nurse for the last six months, with no concerns about your practice. It had particular regard to the comments of your colleague, who stated that ‘[you are] able to convey knowledge, [compassion] and empathy’. 

‘Your colleague also states, ‘I think it would be a great loss to our service and nursing as a whole to lose Natalie at such a critical time”.

Usually, practitioners are barred from returning to work until they have completed their suspended sentence but in Ms Robinson’s case, the NMC took the decision to allow her to return to work. 

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