Nurse who offered woman refund to drop a complaint has been cautioned by NMC

A nurse from Woolton, Liverpool has been cautioned by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for offering an unhappy customer a refund if she withdrew a complaint against him.

John Parker from John Parker Aesthetics Limited faced a fitness to practice hearing in April. He had performed a PDO thread lift on the woman, costing £2,000, and initially refiused when she demanded a refund because she was unhappy with the results.

This prompted her to make a formal complaint to the NMC. But that enquiry was scuppered when Parker intervened and offered the angry customer a refund. A NMC panel which sat in London found Parker deliberately attempted to frustrate the NMC investigation into his fitness to practice by refunding the money. He was handed a three year caution, which must be made aware to any future employer and any future customers he treats. Parker was previously handed a two year caution order by the NMC in June 2014 for giving Botox without a prescription and using an unlicensed treatment to remove a vein.

NMC panel chair Christine Castledine said in her conclusion: “Offering a refund to a patient as an incentive for a referral made against you to your regulator, who was investigating serious allegations made against you, to be withdrawn, undermines public confidence in the profession. It also calls into question your honesty and integrity. “Your actions deliberately frustrated an investigation by the NMC into your fitness to practice and demonstrated a blatant disregard for your regulator.”