Eli's Hospice Insider

Published on Wed Oct 16, 2013 PDF

Is getting fired for Facebook comments the least that can happen to employees? One nurse in Wales is finding that out.

In 2011, nurse Allison Marie Hopton was fired by Ty Hafan hospice over Facebook posts, reports the BBC. Hopton’s profile page stated that she was a nurse at Ty Hafan and comments on her wall were accessible to the public, although she thought they could only be viewed by her Facebook friends.

“Mrs. Hopton used a number of profanities on her Facebook page and made direct and indirect references to the hospice,” says the Nursing and Midwifery Council. She also posted a photo of a colleague sitting on a bedpan. A coworker showed Hopton’s comments to her managers, the BBC says.

Hopton was fired in 2011, but the Council heard about the incident and recently suspended her from nursing for six months. “The panel was mindful of the vulnerable nature of those in her care and the sensitivity that would need to be applied to the families of patients at the hospice and the wider public,” the Council said, according to the BBC.