A FORTH VALLEY nurse has been struck off after a string of serious offences including not reporting allegations that a young girl was being sexually abused in Clackmannanshire.

Emily Whitelaw was struck off after a hearing took place last week in London to discuss allegations that the nurse had not taken the three-year-old girl’s claims seriously.

It had been claimed that Whitelaw had been told by the mother of the girl in 2015 about the alleged abuse by her paternal grandfather, but she did not immediately disclose it to social services or police.

When the issue was finally raised, Whitelaw recommended no action be taken because the girl did not see the grandparents and it may have been a lie. She thereafter failed to note how or why she came to that decision, failed to visit the child and did not discuss the claim with the mother.

Then at the beginning of 2016, she misquoted the girl in a conversation with a social worker to an extent that it changed the claim and failed to provide an adequate number of visits to the home.

The hearing found that Whitelaw’s changing of the words “minimised the inference” of what had apparently happened.

Whitelaw, who has since retired from the profession, was also found guilty of a further six charges by the body relating to her work within the Forth Valley health board.

A judgement from the tribunal condemned Whitelaw and said she is “liable in the future to put patients at unwarranted risk of harm were she to practise without any restriction”, adding that the whole reputation of the nursing profession would be “put at risk” should she be allowed to work again.

The judgement read: “There were repeated failings and numerous errors in record-keeping, conducting assessments and improper delegation over a sustained period of time involving the care and welfare of vulnerable children.

“Miss Whitelaw neglected her position and her actions displayed a disregard for the children in her care and her colleagues, in that she failed to provide the relevant support.

“To allow Miss Whitelaw to remain on the register would undermine public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body.

“This order will mark the importance of maintaining public confidence in the profession, and will send to the public and the profession a clear message about the standard of behaviour required of a registered nurse.”