A NURSE has been struck off for being drunk at work and assaulting a woman while off-duty.

Stephen Colgan, who worked with people with learning disabilities, was found to have put residents at unwarranted risk of harm and brought the profession into disrepute after a Nursing and Midwifery Council panel hearing.

The charges brought by the NMC, one of misconduct and one of being found guilty of committing assault by beating, related to separate incidents.

The hearing was told how Mr Colgan assaulted a woman while not at work, for which Calderdale magistrates subjected him to a community order, a restraining order and ordered him to pay £200 victim compensation on March 28, 2013.

On the same day, while on duty and acting as deputy manager, Mr Colgan was seen ‘behaving oddly’ by the nurse manager and deputy chief executive at Asquith Hall Nursing Home, Todmorden.

A report from the NMC’s Conduct and Competence Committee meeting said: “Both challenged Mr Colgan as to whether he had been drinking alcohol as he presented as somebody who had.

“Mr Colgan repeatedly stated that he had not. Mr Colgan was then asked whether he would be willing to do a breathalyser test as they needed some reassurance that his behaviour was not due to alcohol and he agreed. The reading from the breathalyser showed a high level of alcohol in Mr Colgan’s blood.

“Mr Colgan then broke down and admitted that he had been drinking, walked out of the building with them and took them to a bin where he had disposed the bottle of alcohol that he had been drinking from.”

Mr Colgan was suspended from the Burnley Road home pending a disciplinary hearing on April 8, 2013 where he said: “I am ashamed and cannot account for anything other than I have let myself down.”

At that meeting, Mr Colgan was dismissed on the grounds of misconduct.

At the hearing, it was concluded Mr Colgan’s conduct ‘fell far below the standards expected of a registered nurse’.