A NURSE has been sacked for having a sexual relationship with a mentally ill patient, and smoking cannabis with him.

The woman, who worked at North Devon District Hospital, was dismissed after she admitted she went to bed with the patient, who has chronic agoraphobia, after the two met in hospital.

The 37-year-old also confessed to smoking marijuana with the man, who she met when he was admitted, drunk and unconscious, after a family argument.

The nurse has been the subject of a confidential report seen by the Western Morning News, and a hearing will now be held by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which could result in her being struck off the medical register.

During evidence considered by the trust, it emerged the patient had sent her a Valentine's card, and they had once met following a weekend fling. He complained after she terminated the relationship.

The patient, a 44-year-old man from North Devon, who did not want to be named, said it was the first time he had smoked cannabis, and believed the nurse gave him a type known as "skunk".

He said he was left with depression following the episode. "I believed there was some form of relationship in the initial instance, but it turned out to be purely carnal," he said. He added he felt the woman, who has 14 years' nursing experience, "made a fool" out of him, and he felt he had been "manipulated".

Asked if he was out for revenge, he said he only wanted his complaint dealt with.

He said: "She has lost her job and she risks being struck off, but she should have thought about that before she went down the path that she did. I'm not going to accept any blame whatsoever. She has brought it upon herself entirely.

"If she wanted to have a sexual relationship, she should have approached someone in a club or some other social situation – not someone who turns up in an extremely vulnerable state."

The man claimed the nurse had instigated the relationship by touching him inappropriately beneath the belt line while he was on a ward, and kissing him. He also reported that the two had spent "hours" surfing the Internet, and had kissed. In the report, the trust found no evidence to support any of those allegations. They also found nothing to substantiate his claim the nurse gave him an unprescribed tablet.

Her confession differed to his complaint in a number of aspects. She denied any improper behaviour took place within the hospital, and objected she had not kissed or sexually touched the patient, or given him a non-prescribed tablet.

She refuted his statement that she drove him straight from the hospital to her home, saying instead she gave him a lift home. According to the report, she accepted the act was a "gross error of judgment", but said the two exchanged numbers, and met up later on that day after he rang her.

But she accepted she had sexual relations with him over a three-day period.

She said the two met up again on one other occasion and admitted to sharing details of her own depression with the patient, which constitutes a breach of the trust's guidelines.

In its conclusion, the North Devon Healthcare Trust accepted the nurse's own depression may have influenced her behaviour. But a spokesman said she would not work for the organisation again. The nurse was unavailable for comment.