A MANAGER of a children’s respite unit in Basingstoke has been struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s register after she dishonestly spent thousands of pounds buying items for herself on a procurement card, including perfume, chocolates, and skin care products.

Pamela Ann Gardner was manager at Firvale – a residential respite children’s unit next to Basingstoke hospital – for 10 years until she was sacked in 2018 following a disciplinary hearing.

She spent around £2,500 on the card on items including toiletries from the Body Shop, clothes from Sainsbury’s, sunglasses from TK Maxx, No.7 beauty products from Boots, and £8 Thornton’s chocolates from Morrisons.

She spent a further £1,100 through duplicate petty cash claims.

Mrs Gardner made more than 30 payments on the card between 2014 and 2018 for items including a £75 Filofax from Ryman, a double duvet costing £12.99 from B&M, a TK Maxx handbag for £129.99, perfume for £37, a Kipling laptop bag for £73.49, a Tesco’s lady shaver for £24, and a John Lewis skincare set worth £106.25.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) fitness to practice hearing found Mrs Gardner had tried to hide some of the purchases by incorrectly labelling receipts.

This included writing ‘food’ on one receipt for £43 for a purchase from Sainsbury’s for chocolates, clothing and a mug.

On another she wrote ‘xmas cards, paper, gifts for pass the parcel – cleaning products’ on a receipt for £106.25 for skincare products from John Lewis.

When presented with the evidence and asked for an explanation during an initial investigation, Mrs Gardner said: “Don’t know, sorry I can’t remember.”

Referring to another receipt with her handwriting on it, she said: “No, I don’t understand… well and truly stitched up, I don’t understand the difference, I don’t understand.”

During an internal misconduct hearing held in November 2018, Mrs Gardner denied the allegations, asking: “Why would I purchase something on a purchase card that anyone could see? I have not knowingly made inappropriate purchases.”

She claimed the purchases were a mistake rather than dishonesty and denied using the procurement card for her own personal gain, instead attempting to shift the blame onto her colleagues.

The panel heard that, when invited to answer questions about her conduct as part of the council’s investigation, she said: “Could someone else be doing this? …could someone else have got my password from my diary?”

Mrs Gardner did not attend the NMC hearing earlier this month, because of her “health and personal circumstances”.

Mrs Gardner first entered onto the NMC’s register as a learning disabilities nurse in November 1989 before registering as a children’s nurse in January 2000.

She began working at Basingstoke hospital in February 2006 before she was appointed as manager at Firvale in April 2008, which was run by Hampshire County Council with input from the hospital for clinical matters only. 

One of her main responsibilities was management and allocation of resources.

She accepted that she gave the procurement card and PIN number to other members of staff, and that this was against the council’s policy.

The panel was told that she had resigned from her nursing role and did not intend to nurse again.

It found that her actions had caused a financial loss to Firvale, which is under threat of closure by Hampshire County Council.

As previously reported, HCC launched a consultation on the closure of Firvale in a bid to save £450,000 towards cuts to its Children’s Services Budget totalling £21 million.

The NMC panel, which heard live evidence from six witnesses including a cook, care worker, and team supervisor at Firvale, found that Mrs Gardner’s actions were dishonest and for her “own personal gain”.

However, the panel said there was “no information” suggesting service users were harmed by Mrs Gardner’s actions.

It added that Mrs Gardner’s actions “breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession and brought its reputation into disrepute”.

The panel concluded: “Public confidence in the profession would be undermined if a finding of impairment were not made in this case and therefore found Mrs Gardner’s fitness to practise impaired on public interest grounds only.”

A spokesperson for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said that Pamela Gardner was not employed by the trust during the period relating the charges, from 2014 to 2018.

A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council said: “We do not comment in detail on personnel issues. It should however be noted that the council took prompt action and has rigorous human resources (HR) policies in place to ensure that high standards are consistently met.”

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