A tribunal found Ms Balogun showed a “consistent theme and pattern” of trying to “minimise” her “antisemitic comments”
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A nurse faces being struck off the nursing order after “deeply unpleasant” remarks about Jewish patients being tight with money, a tribunal ruled.
Helen Oluyemisi Balogun was also found to have said to a Jewish colleague words to the effect of “Jews don’t believe in Jesus”, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) tribunal ruling said.
The nurse, who the tribunal heard is from Nigeria, showed a “consistent theme and pattern” of trying to “minimise” her “antisemitic comments”, the NMC wrote.
Ms Balogun became a nurse in April 2009 and was employed by the Priory Group from November of that year, the tribunal heard.
The tribunal in London heard from three colleagues in relation to an alleged remark made by Ms Balogun in 2023 and the panel found that she referred to a Jewish patient as being “tight with money” and that this “correlated with him being Jewish”.
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On a second occasion, Ms Balogun allegedly made a similar remark about another Jewish patient, the tribunal heard.
The tribunal panel noted that during her oral evidence, Ms Balogun accepted that she had said “don’t like to spend money… Jew”.
It wrote that the two comments “can only reasonably be interpreted as demonstrating a discriminatory attitude towards patients based on the grounds of race and/or religion.”
he panel added that her conduct “was very serious, deeply unpleasant and went far beyond what the public would expect from a registered nurse”.
Ms Balogun was found to have told a Jewish colleague words to the effect of “Jews don’t believe in Jesus” or “Jews not accepting Jesus”, despite claiming she had not, the panel said.
The colleague said in her witness statement: “Helen had made some similar comments in the past, including some half-joking comments about Jews not accepting Jesus.
“I think she was half-joking but her comments did hit home for me. I do not think that a belief system is something people should joke about.”
The panel wrote: “There appears to be a consistent theme and pattern of behaviour regarding your behaviour towards your antisemitic comments which you try to minimise, where you believe that you are not doing anything wrong.”
Ms Balogun was also found to have sang Christian hymns while close to the same colleague which the panel found “had the effect of creating an intimidating, hostile and offensive environment” for her and amounted to “harassment”.
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On another occasion, she referred to a patient’s partner as being “half-caste”, which the tribunal found was “offensively discriminating”.
Alice Byron, representing Ms Balogun, said that she has “outlined sincere remorse” and demonstrated “introspective thinking” and “insight into perspectives” beyond her own.
Ms Balogun was handed an interim suspension order and will be permanently struck off from the nursing register unless she successfully appeals the decision.
