A FANTASIST nurse who said he worked for the fictional hospital from the TV show ER has avoided being struck off over “inappropriate” conduct in a Saltcoats nursing home.

Greig Ferguson faced fresh allegations three years after lying about working at the made-up County General Hospital in Chicago where Hollywood actor George Clooney’s character Dr Doug Ross worked.

The 42-year-old was sacked from his position as a result of the lies but avoided being struck off after the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) found him to be ‘not a dishonest person’.

He went before the NMC panel again, this time following allegations over training he gave on ‘physical intervention’ to staff from Seabank Nursing Home and he received a six month suspension order.

He advised those he was training to strike the Adam’s apples, smack the ears, bend the thumbs and push pressure points of those in their care displaying challenging behaviour.

These methods were deemed ‘inappropriate’ but he was found not proven on being dishonest, having no qualifications or training in physical intervention himself.

The home’s patients include frail and elderly residents, some of whom have intellectual impairment and behaviour which requires physical intervention.

Ferguson, of Denny Stirlingshire, was hired by training services company H1 Healthcare to deliver a ‘train the trainer’ course on managing people with challenging behaviour to Seabank staff in August 2013.

A previous NMC hearing was told that staff had concerns about the amount of force used, but trusted Ferguson as he “came across as a competent and confident trainer”.

Those staff then delivered the training to colleagues at Seabank, but the session was stopped by the home manager who told them they shouldn’t be using the techniques, then complained to H1 Healthcare.

Ferguson was hired as an emergency nurse in Portsmouth, in 2008, after claiming to have worked at the TV hospital County General. He also claimed to have been an Army medic.