Tribunal disqualifies former nurse for two years for professional misconduct

07 May 2020

A tribunal has disqualified a former nurse from applying for registration for two years for accessing child exploitation material.

In June 2017, the WA Police Child Abuse Squad received information that a WA resident, later identified as Mr Allan Hindley, was accessing child exploitation material online. Police searched Mr Hindley’s home in August 2017 and found a significant quantity of child exploitation material on his electronic and computer devices. 

Mr Hindley surrendered his registration on 29 August 2017 and has not been registered since that time. 

On 19 July 2018, Mr Hindley was convicted of using a carriage service for child pornography material under the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth) in the District Court of Western Australia after entering a guilty plea. 

On 28 February 2019, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) filed an application in the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia (the tribunal) against Mr Hindley by reason of the criminal conviction. Mr Hindley admitted the facts and that his behaviour constitutes professional misconduct. 

On 7 May 2019, the tribunal reprimanded Mr Hindley, disqualified him for applying for registration as a nurse for two years and ordered him to pay a contribution towards the NMBA’s costs. 

The tribunal took into account, among other things, that Mr Hindley:

• admitted the offending and co-operated with the police and NMBA
• saw a psychologist and completed group counselling. The psychologist indicated that Mr Hindley may have Asperger’s Syndrome, and
• expressed genuine remorse. 

The decision is available on the tribunal website.