A PATIENT told a tribunal a nurse spent his time making advances while she was being treated for a mental breakdown.

The woman, referred to as Patient A, said during her two night stay at the Basildon mental health unit, nurse Kenneth Ngobele avoided work and instigated a sexual relationship with her.

Her evidence was given in a statement to a Nursing and Midwifery Council tribunal, which could see Mr Ngobele kicked out of the profession.

In her statement, she said: “My stay at the hospital was two nights. It looked to me as if Kenneth was avoiding work as much as possible and then trying to come on to me.”

The tribunal heard the woman was being treated for a mental breakdown when she met Ngobele in 2009. She was a patient at he mental health unit, run by the South Essex Partnership Trust, and based at Basildon Hospital.

During her short stay at the unit, she said Ngobele questioned her about her sexuality and sexual partners, whether she had one night stands and claimed he regularly came on to her.

She met up with the nurse after she left the unit and he twice visited her home for sex and became aggressive to her after taking her out for a meal.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council tribunal heard just as Patient A was due to be discharged, Mr Ngobele told her she would no longer be his patient and they could meet safely.

She claims he also wrote down his phone number in her diary.

The tribunal heard the pair later met up for a meal at La Tasca on June 14.

The woman claims, after paying for the meal, Mr Ngobele said she “owed him” and became “sexually aggressive”.

The pair met up again on July 7 and again had sex, but Patient A then began refusing to answer his calls.

The woman initially kept the affair secret, but revealed all to workers at a health clinic where Mr Ngobele was a deputy charge nurse. He was sacked after an investigation by South Essex Partnership Trust.

He denies all the charges he faces at the tribunal hearing. If found guilty of misconduct, he could be kicked out of the profession.

The panel hearing the tribunal ran out of time before it could reach a decision on the facts in Mr Ngobele's case. The hearing will resume on December 2 and is expected to last four days.