A mental health nurse has been struck off after taking drugs with a patient with schizophrenia.
A committee found that Hampshire-based nurse Karli Anderson took cannabis and ecstasy with a vulnerable patient, known as Patient A, who she treated at an inpatient mental health unit.
The pair developed a friendship after meeting outside the unit and began using illegal drugs together.
The panel found Anderson’s actions to be “fundamentally incompatible” with her remaining on the nursing register and enforced a striking-off order.
Anderson worked at a mental health unit run by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust where Patient A, who has schizophrenia and a personality disorder, was a regular inpatient.
Anderson, who first registered as a nurse in 1998, worked as Patient A’s primary nurse for most of their admissions.
After Patient A was discharged in the summer of 2018, the pair bumped into one another in the community and became friends.
When the patient was readmitted later that year, Anderson reported the friendship to the Trust.
She was redeployed during Patient A’s subsequent admissions and was instructed to complete training on professional boundaries.
In November 2019, relatives of Patient A contacted the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and a city council, reporting that Anderson had used illicit substances with the patient.
During an investigation in 2020, Anderson initially denied she had ever taken drugs and said she was not aware Patient A had been using them.
After further concerns were raised, Anderson was re-interviewed and confirmed she had taken cannabis and ecstasy with Patient A on a “handful of occasions” when the patient was in the community.
Patient A was also interviewed and confirmed they had taken the drugs with Anderson, stating that they (Patient A) had mainly initiated it.
In July 2025, Anderson admitted all the charges and professional impairment.
An NMC fitness to practise committee concluded that Anderson seriously breached professional standards by consuming drugs with Patient A, who they described as a “very vulnerable mental health patient”.
Its report said: “Taking drugs with a vulnerable service user, with the knowledge that the drugs could exacerbate the service user’s condition, is an affront to the caring nature of the nursing profession and strikes right at the heart of what it means to be a registered nurse.”
It noted that, while Anderson’s career was otherwise unblemished, her conduct was such a departure from professional standards it required a striking-off order.
Anderson was struck off from the profession and an interim suspension order was put in place for 18 months to cover any appeal period.
