Sloppy Record Keeping Gets Nurse Struck Off, UK

Main Category: Medical Malpractice / Litigation
Also Included In: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 13 May 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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A 34 year old nurse from Cambridge has been struck off the register after a hearing of the Conduct and Competence Committee panel for the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) found his fitness to practise was impaired.

Joseph Williams was employed by Allied Healthcare as an agency nurse and was working at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Ely in October 2005 when he was charged with several accounts of poor record keeping. The independent panel heard evidence that Mr Williams administered the sleep-aid drug Temazepam to the wrong patient and recorded the dose in the incorrect record book. He was also charged with failing to make chronological and correct records of patient doses and administration dates, and failing to take charge of tablets of the antidepressant drug Efexor that were found on the floor and failing to complete an incident report form.

Due to the serious nature of errors in relation to recording and administering controlled drugs, and considering the incidents all occurred during a single shift, the independent panel concluded that Mr Williams' misconduct and his failure to show any remorse or insight to his actions was fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the register.

Commenting on the panel's decision, NMC spokesperson Kristy Hempel said:

"In keeping with the professional Code of conduct for nurses and midwives, Mr Williams is personally accountable for his practice and is therefore answerable for his actions and omissions. His behaviour had the potential to cause patient harm, and inaccurate records meant that patient safety was compromised. Despite Mr Williams' good history, the Code states that the quality of record keeping is a reflection of the nurse's standard of professional practise, while careless record keeping often highlights wider problems with the individual's practise. Accordingly, for public protection and to maintain public confidence in the profession and the Council, the panel concluded that Mr Williams must be struck off."

Notes

The Nursing & 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 & Midwifery Council