ENGLAND: Nurse loses job after urging patients to find God during a training course
A nurse has lost his job after he advised two "patients" to find God during a role play session on a training course.

By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter
The TELEGRAPH
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5373122/Nurse-loses-job-after-urging-patients-to-find-God-during-a-training-course.html
May 23, 2009

Anand Rao was taking part in simulated situations as part of an exercise in palliative care arranged by his employers.

Mr Rao, a bank staff nurse in hospitals run by the Leicester NHS Trust, advised two women playing the roles of patients to turn to God. He is now considering taking action for religious discrimination against his former employer. Mr Rao, who has been working in nursing care for more than 40 years, says he is incredulous that comments made in a training programme - rather than to genuine patients - should be used against him in such a "heavy handed" way.

In one scenario, he says he advised a woman who had a serious heart condition.

Mr Rao, a committed Christian who was born in India, said: "Mrs Jones [a made-up name] told me that her doctor told her that she will not live long and this created stress.

"I asked Mrs Jones whether she goes to church, she said 'no'. I advised her if she went to church the stress might be eased. I further told her I go to church for the same reason."

In another scenario, Mr Rao said he advised a woman "patient" who had Aids.

He suggested that she should stop having sex with her husband and Mr Rao added: "I said to her, in such circumstances when no treatment is available, the best treatment is prayer to God."

It is understood the woman "patient" had, however, wanted to find out ways of continuing to have safe sex and felt she did not receive sympathetic, suitable advice.

Mr Rao, 71, believes his tutor should have simply advised him that it was not considered good practice to bring up a worker's religious beliefs with a patient.

However, instead, the training course resulted in a report from the course organiser, Leicestershire and Rutland Organisation for the Relief of Suffering (LOROS), to his employer raising concerns over his performance.

Mr Rao's case has been taken up by Christian Legal Centre, which seeks to promote religious freedom and, particularly, to protect Christians and Christianity. The centre, in turn, has instructed Paul Diamond, a leading religious rights barrister.

However, Leicester NHS Trust defended their action and said that the training course incident was not the first time that Mr Rao had shown disregard for the Nursing and Midwifery Council's (NMC) code of conduct.

The case comes four months after The Sunday Telegraph revealed how Caroline Petrie, 45, a nurse from North Somerset, was suspended for offering to pray for an elderly patient's recovery from illness.

Mrs Petrie, also a Christian, was accused of failing to demonstrate a "personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity", but she was later reinstated by her employers, the North Somerset Primary Care Trust.

Mr Rao, who worked for the Leicester NHS Trust since May 2005, was initially suspended by his employer on the grounds that "concerns have been raised about your professional conduct by the course directors at LOROS."

The care worker did not attend a disciplinary hearing in the New Year when the allegations against him were being examined.

He says he refused to attend because he was not given, as he had requested, a copy of the questions and answers from his training meeting.

Mr Rao said he earned £11 an hour as a care worker and usually ended up with an annual salary of about £18,000.

His contract was terminated in a letter from his employers which addressed concerns about his behaviour at the training course.

"This was specifically in relation to a simulated session where you raised issues regarding your religious beliefs with individuals who were role playing the part of patients.

"The issues you raised during the session were deemed to be highly inappropriate by the course directors," the letter said.

Kate Bradley, the director of human resources at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust said: "The incident which led to the launch of the investigation was unfortunately not the first.

"Since joining us in 2005 he had continuously shown a disregard for the NMC code of conduct which he had breached on more than one occasion.

"Mr Rao was given every opportunity to assure us that this would not happen again, but he was unable to do so and showed little regards for the standards of care and professionalism that is expected of him as a nurse."

END