Nurse suspended for six months for kissing 75-year-old dementia sufferer

Dimitrios Kokkinidis said the act, which took place in May 2015 at Moreland House care home, Manor Avenue, Hornchurch, was not sexual and was performed to “comfort” the patient who had soiled herself and was in distress.

In an interview with the police, Kokkinidis said he thought the elderly women was “about to take her breast out of her bra” and he had pushed it back in.

He admitted kissing the woman and said that while he had not intended to do so he probably did “get the mouth”.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) found his actions “misguided” but did not think it warranted being struck from the register.

While there was enough evidence to prove that Kokkinidis had breached professional boundaries and caused his patient emotional distress, there was not enough evidence to suggest that the incident was sexually motivated.

The panel noted that the kissing took place in a corridor which is a public place and “somewhere he would be noticed”.

At a substantive hearing on March 29 the NMC panel said: “The misconduct in this case, whilst serious, was limited to an isolated incident in an otherwise unblemished nursing career.

“(The) misconduct is such as to require his temporary removal from the register.”

The nurse failed to give evidence of any remorse and did not demonstrate that he understood the “gravity of his actions”.

He did, however, give an early account to the police and he has not got any previous referrals.

Several attempts were made to contact Kokkinidis prior to the hearing but he did not attend and a letter from the NMC has been sent out to Kokkinidis detailing the verdict of the panel.

He has 28 days to appeal the decision before the suspension comes into effect.

After the hearing Moreland asked us to point out that Kokkinidis was not directly employed by the home but was agency staff and that the home reported him to the police immediately in order to safeguard patients.