A MENTAL health nurse who had a secret three-year relationship with a patient was struck off from the profession yesterday.

Anna Windich started the affair with a recovering bipolar drug addict when he was discharged from the Littlemore Mental Health Centre where she worked in June 2010.

The pair ended up sleeping together after a night out, but hid their relationship from Windich’s bosses at the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust unit.

But when the patient was readmitted to the Phoenix Ward at the centre in 2012, Windich insisted on giving him one-to-one care and taking him out on trips alone.

Although suspicions were raised about their relationship when the patient’s CV was found listing her as a referee, it was not until December 2013 that she confessed to the affair.

William Nelson, chairing a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) fitness to practice hearing, ruled yesterday Windich should be struck off the professional register.

He said: “Ms Windich should be struck off, that’s the only decision that is both proportionate and appropriate in the circumstances of this case.”

The patient, who was a self-confessed cannabis and crack cocaine addict, was admitted to the 21-bed ward for treatment for bipolar, aggression problems, alcohol abuse, and manic episodes.

When interviewed in January last year, Windich admitted it was a mistake but insisted she was in love with him. She said: “’I don’t believe the relationship had a negative impact on him.

“I can’t believe anyone that knew him would say he was vulnerable.”

Windich, who did not attend the hearing in central London, admitted failing to maintain professional boundaries, failing to disclose her relationship with the patient, referred to as patient A, and ignoring clinical advice.

She also, prior to the hearing, agreed her fitness to practice was impaired and the only possible sanction was to be struck off the nursing register.

Francis O’Toole, for the NMC, told the hearing Windich struggled to distance herself from patients that relied heavily on her.

He said: “The registrant was unable to maintain inappropriate boundaries, especially with patient A, on the ward where patients were highly vulnerable and detained under the Mental Health Act.

“It was a breach of professional boundaries, dishonest, and had the effect of seriously damaging the reputation of the nursing profession.”

The hearing was told patient A had also beaten Windich on occasion, and had been arrested while they were in the pub together in the midst of a manic episode.

Windich admitted she failed to maintain proper boundaries with the patient and failed to disclose the relationship despite knowing she should.

She also admitted acting contrary to clinical advice by continuing to allocate herself to the patient’s care, overruling decisions to stop Patient A’s days out without clinical justification and escorting him on leave.

She is banned from working as a nurse indefinitely after admitting “sustained and repeated dishonesty”.