Nurse Struck Off For Delaying Decision On Patients' Condition

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 10 Oct 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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A Lancashire nurse was struck off the professional register for not responding appropriately to two patients' deteriorating conditions, a factor which may have contributed significantly to their deaths.

That was the conclusion of the Professional Conduct and Competence Committee's hearing at the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) in London, where the independent panel heard that Gemma Aquino, 49, delayed calling for urgent medical attention for one patient and then failed to call an ambulance for another, on consecutive nights while working last year at the Birch Hall Care Centre in Darwen, Lancashire.

The panel heard evidence that both patients' conditions had been deteriorating, the second patient described by staff as pale, moaning, not focusing and with floppiness of legs arms and head. By the time action was taken, after assessment and intervention by a nursing colleague, the patients' conditions were clearly a cause for concern.

The NMC panel ruled that Aquino was in a position of responsibility and should have taken action earlier. She had not called an ambulance when her nursing colleague asked her in a compelling manner and went to retrieve the patient's notes and then the blood pressure machine. In addition she was further guilty of misconduct by not recording crucial information relating to details of the patient's condition or an accurate sequence of events both times.

Lesley Conway, spokesperson at the NMC said: "The NMC's Code of Professional Conduct says that a registered nurse is responsible, wherever she works, for providing safe and competent care. She must act to identify and minimise risk to patients and ensure that she keeps accurate records of treatment and care delivery, something Aquino apparently failed to provide.

"Based on the panel's findings it is clear that Aquino's actions and omissions clearly breached those principles and they found her fitness of practice to be impaired. The gravity of the offences is such that the panel decided on a Striking Off Order."

The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) is the UK regulator for two professions, nursing and midwifery. To be eligible to work as a nurse or midwife in the UK, they must be registered with the NMC. There are currently more than 674,000 nurses and midwives on the register. The primary purpose of the NMC is to safeguard the health and wellbeing of the public. It does this through maintaining a register of all nurses and midwives to practise within the UK and by setting standards for their education, training and conduct.

Nursing & Midwifery Council