Nurse has affairs with widowers of patients

London: To the hundreds of terminally ill cancer patients she cared for, Macmillan nurse Sara Dale was a guardian angel providing advice and support.

But her career is now in tatters amid allegations that she had relationships with three grieving widowers after their wives or partners died.

The 39-year-old nurse has admitted at least two relationships, although colleagues who alerted hospital bosses about her conduct claim she embarked on three. She is currently living with one of the men, Stephen Ellis, 50, whose long-term partner Mel died last year.

Dale, who met her lovers after caring for their partners, has been sacked by Queen Elizabeth NHS Hospital in King's Lynn, Norfolk, for gross misconduct and has lost her title of Macmillan nurse.

The divorced mother of two also faces a hearing in front of the Nursing and Midwifery Council's conduct committee where she could be struck off.

Inappropriate

Friends said she will deny that any of the relationships were inappropriate and say she is the victim of a hate campaign.

A source at the hospital said: "There really was no reason to question her professionalism before the allegations came to light and they were a complete shock."

"She had been off for some time before she was dismissed and a lot of people thought she was on leave but word soon spread about what had happened."

The Nursing and Midwifery Council's code of conduct states nurses must act with integrity, uphold the reputation of the profession and maintain professional boundaries including ‘establishing and actively maintaining clear sexual boundaries at all times with people in your care, their families and carers'.

Dale married her husband John in 1995 and they had two children. There is no suggestion she had lovers while she was still with her husband.

She started working as a Macmillan nurse at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 1998 and was sacked in January following a hearing into her professional conduct. The allegations emerged when letters from anonymous members of staff were sent to senior figures at the hospital trust last year.

Insiders said Dale began one fling more than a year after the man's partner died. The relationship with Ellis, a scaffolder, began months after his partner died.

He is understood to have moved into her three-bedroom semi in South Wootton, near King's Lynn, last year. It is now on sale and the couple have moved into a detached house nearby. No details were available about the third relationship.

Dale said: "The hospital was told I'd had three relationships with men who had lost their partners to cancer. But I have had two."