Care Home Nurse Struck Off For Stealing Thousands From Residents

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Also Included In: Medical Malpractice / Litigation
Article Date: 23 Apr 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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A nurse has been struck off the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) register for steeling from the vulnerable residents in his care.

Anthony Stephan Griffiths, a 48 year old adult nurse from Doncaster, South Yorkshire stole nearly £21,500 from the residents at Cedars Care Home between February 2005 and February 2006. He was also found guilty of four counts of false accounting in an attempt to hide his repeated behaviour and breached his Code of Conduct which says that you must be trustworthy.

At the Conduct and Competence Committee hearing held in London on 21 April, 2008, the independent panel heard that Mr Griffiths, who was not present, had falsely written cheques on the Four Season Health Care (England) Ltd Re Cedars Care Clinic Residents account ("the personal allowance account") and falsely recorded the sums on the stub for each cheque in an attempt to cover up his actions.

Commenting on the panel's decision, NMC spokesperson Leila Harris said: "As a nurse, Mr Griffiths was responsible for the care and wellbeing of the residents of Cedars Care Home. These were particularly vulnerable individuals and his behaviour was fundamentally incompatible with what's expected of a registered nurse. The Council would be doing a disservice to the reputation of the nursing profession if he was permitted to remain on the register."

Notes

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the UK regulator for two professions, nursing and midwifery. The primary purpose of the NMC is protection of the public. It does this through maintaining a register of all nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses eligible to practice within the UK and by setting standards for their education, training and conduct. Currently the number of registrants exceeds 674,000. The Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 (The Order), sets out the NMC's role and responsibilities.

Nursing and Midwifery Council