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Prayer-row nurse talks to Jon Snow

Updated on 06 February 2009

By Jon Snow

A community nurse, back at work after she was suspended for offering to pray for an elderly patient, talks to Channel4 News.

Caroline Petrie said she did not want to have to choose between being a Christian and being a nurse, but was relieved her ordeal was now over.

Somerset Primary Care Trust suspended Mrs Petrie in December, saying she had breached her professional code.

The North Somerset health trust said it felt it had been right to investigate concerns about Mrs Petrie's actions, adding "it is acceptable to offer spiritual support when the patient asks for it".

"But for nurses, whose principal role is nursing care, the initiative lies with the patient and not with the nurse", it added.

Caroline Petrie joins us now from Bristol.

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