A top judge today (FRI) demanded a review of NHS e
A top judge today (FRI) demanded a review of NHS employment procedures after a former nurse was locked up for stabbing a colleague to death.
Mrs Justice Heather Hallett, QC, said hospital trusts need a ‘sensible and secure’ process of appointing staff.
And she urged the Department of Health or the NHS to launch a drive to tighten up the selection procedure.
The call came after crazed Mlungisi Tshabangu was sent to a psychiatric hospital for knifing fellow nurse Albert Field to death the Bromley Hospital, where they worked.
Body-builder Tshabangu, 34, had taken massive doses of anabolic steroids before the attack.
He was convinced Mr Field, 34, had been spreading rumours that he was gay and a paedophile.
Tshabangu had previously worked at a hospital in Birmingham where he assualted another nurse, and at the Royal London Hospital where he told a boss he ‘hated’ one of his colleagues.
But when Tshabangu took up a job at the Bromley Hospital, bosses were not told of either incident.
The High Court today heard that both cases were recorded on files at the relevant hospitals, but there is no nationwide exchange of information between trusts.
Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee said: ‘The Bromley Hospital Trust had not received any information from anyone in the NHS – either before or after this incident – that would give cause for concern for this defendant.
‘The Trust justifiably feels let down.
The system in place showed no national exchange of staff personnel files between the trusts, and there is no way of seeing documents.
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Mrs Justice Hallett said: ‘I would like to express my concern about the way in which staff appear to be acquainted within the NHS, particularly in the light of the increasing number of staff being recruited from abroad.
‘I recommend a review of the selection and appointment procedures by an appropriate body, either the NHS or the Department of Health.
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The judge added that a police report on the case highlighted ‘a number of very worrying aspects’, including the fact that no record of violent or aggressive behaviour is referred to prospective employers.
She went on: ‘I hope that someone will ensure that some recommendations can be made so that trusts throughout the country can follow sensible and secure procedures when employing their staff.
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Tshabangu had injected around six times the usual dose of steroids when he attacked Mr Field on February 12 this year.
He knifed the father-of-one with such severity that he was almost decapitated.
Prosecutor Mr Aftab Jafferjee said: ‘Even by the standards of violence of these courts are sadly used to, these were terrible injuries.
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Tshabangu was today detained indefinitely under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act.
Mrs Justice Hallett told him: ‘This was an appalling crime.
A young man, loved by his family and friends, was killed in dreadful circumstances.
‘Sadly, he paid the ultimate penalty for your increasing mental instability, particularly paranoia.
‘I am satisfied with everything I have heard, that you pose a grave risk to the public if released.
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South African Tshabangu, who is six feet tall and weighs 17 and a half stone, had been body building for at least ten years.
He worked in pharmaceutical companies in South Africa which gave him free access to the steroids.
Tshabangu came to Britain in 1997, taking advantage of the NHS scheme to recruit nurses from abroad.
But after just a month at the Royal Stanmore hospital staff in Middlesex reported Tshabangu was abusive to them.
‘A week later he refused to give a patient any medication on the basis that the patient had been rude to him,’ said Mr Jafferjee.
When he was seen by hospital bosses, Tshabangu said it would be better if he left immediately and walked out of the job.
He returned to South Africa but within three months he was back and working at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham.
It was then Tshabangu was first noticeably paranoid about homosexuality after an eight-year-old girl who could not pronounce his name called him La Rue.
Tshabangu cornered one of the female nurses who laughed about the error and repeatedly hit her in the head.
He warned the woman, who had 25 years experience: ‘Don’t let me every hear you saying anything like that again.
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The nurse then moved to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel where bosses did not bother to take up references.
By September 1999, his high level of absenteeism and aggressive attitude towards colleagues was again bought into question.
‘He responded by saying staff were simply spreading rumours about him and alienating him,’ said Mr Jafferjee.
‘He attested he wished to leave the London Hospital as soon as possible because of his hatred for members of staff.
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In October he started work at the Bromley Hospital and was already taking a sheath knife to work, strapped to his body.
‘He decided he would settle these rumours by an ultimate act of violence,’ said Mr Jaffejee.
The owner of the gym where the nurse worked out saw that Tshabangu’s body was clearly artificially developed by steroids and became aware of his violent mood swings.
He confided in a friend: ‘If something happens to me the guy who will do it is Tshabangu.
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The gym owner was right.
Tshabangu has planned to murder him on the same day as Mr Field, but his ‘satisfaction’ in the killing made that unnecessary, the court heard.
Tshabangu even believed the wife of a TV Gladiator who was treated in the hospital was also spreading rumours.
The court had heard that Mr Field, from Mottingham, Kent, doted on both his five-month-old son and his girlfriend.
‘He was always joking with staff and patients alike.
He was known as a lovable rascal,’ said Mr Jafferjee
On the day he died he was planning to take his girlfriend shopping to buy her some new clothes.
Tshabangu had taken a particular dislike to Mr Field because when the proud father bought his son into work the body builder believed he was deliberately making reference to his sexuality.
‘The defendant, in his deluded state, interpreted that act as a concerted attack in his sexual preferences,’ said Mr Jafferjee.
He believed Mr Field was ‘a gossip who enjoyed exposing other people’s secrets.
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On the day of the killing, Tshabangu strode into the hospital, even though he was not on duty that day, put on a latex glove and found Mr Field in the kitchen.
‘He confronted the deceased and asked the deceased: ‘Have you every slept with a baby,’ said Mr Jafferjee.
‘The deceased replied: ‘What sort of question is that to ask.
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When Tshabangu went on: ‘Have you ever slept with a man,’ Mr Field turned away.
‘As his back was turned this defendant began this quite fearsome onslaught, stabbing him, as it turned out, in excess of 20 times,’ said Mr Jafferjee.
Nurses heard banging and screaming and saw Mr Field stagger on to the ward, bleeding profusely.
As he collapsed to the floor, Tshabangu shouted at him: ‘You shouldn’t call me a homosexual.
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‘The defendant than left the deceased fatally wounded on the floor and went to the nurses reception area and sat on a chair,’ said counsel.
‘He peeled off the latex glove and placed it with the knife on the floor.
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When he was asked by a member of staff why he had done it, Tshabangu calmly replied: ‘It has been a long time coming.
He deserved it.
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He then climbed out a window to escape but turned himself in later that night
The court heard he was taking testosterone, insulin growth hormones and other drugs.
Five days before the killing he had injected a 750 mg does of a steroid which has an average dose of 250mg every three to four weeks.
Tshabangu, who was living in nurse’s quarters in the Orpington Hospital, had admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
ends
