WILLIAMS: NURSE STRUCK OFF FOR INDIFFERENCE TO PATIENT’S PAIN
A district nurse who showed indifference to the suffering of an elderly patient has been kicked out of the profession for her ‘reprehensible’ behaviour.
Jennifer Williams, 51, left the woman in pain and upset after roughly treating her wounds during a home visit.
She also left another another patient to go without insulin for a weekend at Hornsea Cottage Hospital in Humberside.
A misconduct panel at a hearing in central London ordered her name be struck off the nursing register.
Panel chair Linda Read said: ‘Over a relatively brief period of four months, the registrant failed to provide an acceptable standard of care to three different patients.
‘Her treatment of Patients A and D was particularly reprehensible.
‘She harmed Patient A and was indifferent to her suffering. She was also rude and aggressive in her manner.
‘The registrant abandoned Patient D’s needs and exposed her to a risk of very serious harm.’
The diabetic patient, referred to as Patient D, lived at home with her daughter and son-in-law, but was often admitted to the Promenade Care Home in Hornsea for respite care.
She was admitted on September 21, 2007 and her care plan was handed over to Williams.
But nurses were unable to find the documents and the alarm was raised when it was noticed Patient D had not been given insulin for two days.
The care plan was eventually located in the top drawer of Williams’ desk, the panel was told.
Another elderly patient, referred to as Patient A, complained after Williams used the wrong type of treatment on her wounds during a home visit on May 29, 2007.
She used dry gauze to clean a groin wound and a pressure sore and ‘roughly pulled apart’ the woman’s buttocks.
Giving evidence, staff nurse Margaret Moxon told the panel: ‘I was surprised at how angry Patient A was.
‘She was obviously upset and in pain.’
She added: ‘I would never use dry gauze on any wound. It can be quite abrasive.’
Williams did not attend the hearing in central London and denied all the charges against her.
She was found guilty of using inappropriate treatments on Patient A’s wounds, failing to give insulin to Patient D, and failing to report the wastage of diamorphine during a home visit to a third terminally ill patient.
But she was cleared of a similar charge of failing to report the wastage of anti-psychotic drug nozinan.
ends
