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NHS chief ‘appalled’ by 20 years of sexual abuse
Inquiry issues report on male nurse who ‘preyed on women’
A "PREDATORY" male nurse who manipulated 23 vulnerable patients and potentially hundreds more into sex at a Pimlico eating disorder clinic was allowed to go undetected because of inadequate management, an inquiry has found.
David Britten, 54, a former manager at the Peter Dally clinic in Osbert Street – which has since closed – preyed on patients over a 20 year period.
It was only after being dismissed from the clinic in 2002 for professional misconduct that women who had been under his care mustered up the courage to come forward with allegations of serious sexual misconduct stretching back to 1985.
In light of the wave of allegations, an NHS inquiry was launched in 2006 to establish how he evaded detection for so long.
The report published this week blamed a combination of poor management, missed opportunities and a wall of silence from victims for Mr Britten being allowed to “groom” patients for his own sexual gratification.
It reveals that three previous internal investigations by two different trusts – The Riverside Mental Health Trust in 1998 and Brent, Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster Mental Health Trust in 1999 and 2001 – into his conduct had been flawed, allowing him to continue on with his abuse three years after it was first flagged up by a patient in 1998.
In the NHS report, the nurse, who joined the clinic from the specialist eating disorder Gordon Hospital in 1996, taking many of his patients with him, was described as a “manipulative predator who represented a clear danger to women”.
A number of women, some of whom have since won compensation, told of how Mr Britten blackmailed them into performing lewd sex acts in his office and even in the bedrooms of the clinic.
Their testimonies reveal the stories he told patients to win their trust. Among the tales were that claims that he had cancer and was going to die, that his mother had died when he was 12, that he had lost his fiancee in a car crash and that his brother was disabled.
Many of the women have suffered with post- traumatic stress, self- harm and depression since their ordeals.
Alison McKenna, who led the inquiry said: “The effect of David Britten’s abuse of these vulnerable women cannot be over estimated.
“David Britten was a specialist in eating disorders and would have known that the affected individuals can be very compliant and eager to please. He deliberately targeted vulnerable patients, grooming them for his own sexual gratification.”
Mr Britten, who according to the report is understood to be living in exile in northern France, never faced any criminal charges due to insufficient evidence at the time of the attempted prosecution. He was struck off the nursing register in 2004.
The lawyer representing a number of the patients outlined the failings which allowed the abuse to continue.
She said: “Management should have picked up, and acted on, the lack of patient notes and the lack of attendance at supervision sessions.
“David Britten also seems to have been able to introduce unorthodox practices into the clinic with no control.
“David Britten was extraordinarily manipulative. The situation was akin to hero-worship in some quarters. Management should recognise the propensity for this in eating disorder services and guard against it. There are specific issues concerning patients’ safety for this client group.”
Apologising on behalf of NHS London, chief nurse Trish Morris-Thompson said: “As a nurse and midwife, I am appalled by David Britten’s actions and that they went unchecked for so long. He abused not just these women but also his position of professional trust.
“This report has lessons for NHS organisations around the country and it’s my job to ensure these lessons are widely disseminated. They will be.”
In 2001, Peter Dally Clinic closed after it was taken over by the Central and North West London Mental Health Trust and the allegations against Mr Britten emerged.
The trust, which has since been replaced by NHS London, commissioned the inquiry.
A new eating disorder clinic called the Vincent Square Clinic was opened a year later with new staff. |
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