Nurse Suspended For Repeated Failure To Record Care, UK

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 18 Aug 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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A nurse has been suspended from the Nursing and Midwifery Council's (NMC) register for six months following a repeated failure to keep records of the care she provided for a patient at the Peartree Care Centre in Sydenham, Kent.

The NMC heard that Janet Eruvbetere, 58, admitted while working at the centre in January 2006, she failed to record the administration of antibiotics and did not record the details of a wound in a patient's leg.

The independent panel of the NMC's Conduct and Competence Committee heard less than a year earlier Eruvbetere had been warned about not keeping accurate records of care.

Lesley Conway, a spokesperson for the NMC commented:

"Accurate record-keeping is essential to the duties of nursing and forms part of a nurse's Code of Conduct. Records should provide clear evidence of the care planned, the decisions made, the care delivered and the information shared. Her failures could have caused a patient harm even though in this case they did not. The panel accepted that she acted in the way that she did because of great pressure of work but she did not seek help. The decision to suspend her registration for a period of six months reflects the seriousness of her misconduct and is sufficient to protect the public."

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