05.11.2008

Disciplinary Action for Nurse who Sold Knickers on eBay

A nurse who tried to sell clean and dirty underwear over the internet while on duty will face disciplinary action form the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

IT experts at the hospital were alerted to an e-mail sent by Ms Sheena McMillan on April 24 last year with the title 'naughty knicks' which referred to the sale by Ms McMillan of her clean and worn underwear.

Several other in-appropriate emails were discovered, including a number of eBay users negotiating the price of items and along with an e-mail from eBay withdrawing the items as they breached their policy.

Sarah Page, for the NMC, told the hearing it would have been obvious to eBay punters that they were bidding for underwear belonging to a registered nurse.

"Clearly Ms McMillan was using her work e-mail address, one that was part of the Trust's network. Her title was also included as part of the address, so it was evident that she was a staff nurse working at the hospital."

Ms McMillan is not present or represented at the hearing. She admits that she used her work e-mail address to advertise items of a sexual nature for sale on eBay and also admits sending and receiving sexually explicit e-mails on her work address relating to the sale of sexually explicit items on eBay. She denied that her fitness to practice is impaired.

The NMC panel decided to refer the hearing to its health committee after reading the private representations made by Nurse McMillan in a letter and said it would not strike her off.