Physio who accessed patient’s personal data to visit her home is struck off

A medical professional who used a patient’s personal data to visit her home with a gift while working as a vaccinator has been struck off the register.

Josep Bofill Blanch, who was a registered physiotherapist employed by NHS Grampian in North East Scotland, met the woman and gave her an injection when she attended his vaccination centre on May 7, 2021.

He then found and messaged her on Facebook to ask if her arm was sore, before visiting her rural address the following day with a bottle of Kombucha tea as a gift when there was “no clinical justification” for him to do so, according to a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) tribunal panel.

Computer logs showed Mr Blanch had used a national vaccination database system to view the woman’s record, which included her address, on three separate occasions after she had received her injection and left the centre.

The panel found Mr Blanch’s behaviour had breached professional boundaries and amounted to conduct done in the pursuit of a future sexual relationship.

The physiotherapist had started working as a vaccinator on Fridays in the Macduff Vaccination Centre in Aberdeenshire from February 2021.

Mr Blanch said he found the woman on Facebook after administering her injection, as he knew her first and last name and used her social media photograph to identify her.

When interviewed about the Facebook message she received from Mr Blanch, the woman said: “I thought it was strange and ignored it. You can find anyone online, but I thought it was inappropriate.”

The woman did not respond to his message.

Describing his appearance at her home on May 8, 2021, she said: “I live very rural and isolated. In amongst barns. I did not see anyone there.

“I parked up after taking the dog to the vet. I never heard him approach but he appeared when I took the dog out the car.

“It was distressing for the children … it was quite a shock.”

Interviewed about the incident, Mr Blanch said he felt the woman had been upset during her vaccination and he wanted to visit her to ask her how she was feeling, as it was the custom in his culture.

He later provided an alternative explanation for the visit by saying that he wanted to make friends.

A witness said Mr Blanch had told her he knew the rough area where the woman lived from their conversations at the vaccination clinic, so he had driven there and asked a neighbour who pointed him in the right direction.

The HCPC panel found Mr Blanch’s explanation for knowing and finding the woman’s address was “implausible” and “unbelievable”, and said that if he was genuinely concerned about the woman, it “should have been escalated through appropriate channels at work”.

“In all the circumstances, the panel determined that the explanations provided by (Mr Blanch) at the local interview stage were inconsistent and his conduct in attending (the woman’s) address with a gift was highly inappropriate,” the panel said.

Mr Blanch was suspended by NHS Grampian on May 14, 2021, and resigned on August 3 of that year, before an investigation was completed.

He did not tell the HCPC about the suspension, with the healthcare body only being notified after receiving a referral from NHS Grampian almost five months later on October 13, and tried to seek other employment in the profession.

The panel found Mr Blanch’s conduct was dishonest “by the standards of an ordinary decent person”.

It concluded that all the facts proved in the case fell far below the standards required in the profession and amounted to misconduct.

Mr Blanch “showed limited insight” into his own misconduct and provided no evidence of provided any meaningful reflection or steps taken to address the concerns, meaning there was a “real risk” he could repeat his actions in the future, the panel said.

His behaviour amounted to “persistent and intensified unwanted attention” towards the woman that “placed his needs in the pursuit of a future, sexual relationship above the wellbeing and privacy of a service user”, it added.

The panel made an order to strike Mr Blanch’s name from the register after determining his fitness to practise was impaired.

An NHS Grampian spokesperson said: “We note the decision of the HCP tribunal service. This individual was suspended in May 2021 and left the organisation in August 2021.”