Panel chair Anica Alvarez Nishio said a striking off order was "the only sanction which reflects the gravity of the concerns".

The hearing was told concerns about Mr Hussey had been raised within South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust as early as 2017 when he suggested to a former patient that they meet for lunch.

Further concerns were then lodged about his behaviour around the patient he visited at home after he accompanied her to hospital for her admission to an inpatients' ward.

The panel heard the ward manager had seen them together the next day and said Mr Hussey, who was the clinical lead for eating disorders in Barnsley CAMHS, had been "within [the patient's] personal space".

Nearly three years after the home visits, which took place in 2018 and 2019, a friend of the patient reported the pair had an "inappropriate relationship".

The Trust said the patient denied this, however, the NMC panel ruled that visiting her home and giving her lifts amounted to misconduct.

The Panel said his actions were "inappropriate as it was not necessary for Mr Hussey to be alone with the patient, nor was it in the care plan to convey unaccompanied service users in his private car".

The panel also found he had committed misconduct by visiting a former patient at home with his daughter to drop off baby clothes.

In its findings, the panel said his behaviour was "potentially intrusive and went beyond normal professional boundaries".

It said cuddling the patient in A&E "did not relate to the clinical care of Patient B and was not appropriate behaviour when interacting with a vulnerable CAMHS patient".