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A Perth nurse has been struck off after two episodes of aggression towards young patients in the psychiatric ward of Bentley Hospital, in one case punching or pushing a boy who had a diagnosis of autism, depression, and anxiety.
Daniel Luckhurst had been a registered enrolled nurse for 15 years when he lost his temper with two separate vulnerable patients within minutes of each other in 2023.
Details of the incidents were outlined in a State Administrative Tribunal decision, published last week, after Luckhurst was referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia claiming there was proper cause for disciplinary action against him.
The decision outlines how Luckhurst was employed in the East Metropolitan Youth Unit at Bentley Hospital when on August 22, 2023, he took the phone from a young adult Aboriginal man who was described as “particularly vulnerable”.
The man had been initially admitted as an involuntary inpatient for three weeks, later staying as a voluntary patient after a diagnosis of psychosis, the documents stated.
An altercation occurred between Luckhurst and the man that morning after he took his mobile phone out of his hand and then “used an angry tone of voice” when he attempted to get it back, “further escalating the situation”.
Lackhurst then followed the man down the corridor “with his raised left forearm pushed towards patient one,” the documents stated, adding that he “failed to maintain professional behaviour” towards the man.
The second incident occurred minutes later in the activities room at the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, where Luckhurst was alone with a boy who had been admitted involuntarily with a diagnosis of autism, depression, and anxiety.
The documents state that it was “contrary to usual practice” for a nurse to be left alone with a patient but that another registered nurse had to leave urgently to attend to another patient and that they had completed a risk assessment and deemed the boy to be of “no imminent risk of aggression”.
The boy had no known history of aggressive behaviour towards staff and was regularly managed on the open ward, but moments after the registered nurse left, the boy told Luckhurst he wanted to leave the activities room, which he was not allowed to do.
The boy then reached for Luckhurst’s belt, where his access card was located. Luckhurst pushed his hands away and the boy started knocking on a nurse’s station window before reaching again for the access card.
According to the SAT documents, Luckhurst “pushed and/or punched” the boy twice on his upper body, raising his hands in “closed fists to adopt a ‘boxing’ stance”.
He continued to raise his fists several more times without making further physical contact with the boy.
Three staff members then entered the room, with two of them forcibly coming between the boy and the nurse to de-escalate the situation.
The documents show that Luckhurst continued to move towards the patient, again holding up his two hands “with the left hand in a clenched fist and in a boxing-like stance”.
Lackhurst’s conduct was described in the documents as “intimidating, aggressive, and unprofessional”.
Luckhurst stopped working at the hospital on the same day as the incidents and has now been disqualified by the tribunal from applying for registration as a nurse for 12 months.
He was also ordered to pay a contribution of the costs incurred by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia in taking the matter to the tribunal.
The tribunal heard that the reasons for his conduct could be linked to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service, as well as ongoing rental and personal stress he was undergoing at the time.
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