Nursing Home Manager Removed For Series Of Blunders, UK

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Also Included In: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 19 Feb 2008 - 3:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

A 58 year old adult nurse from Wolverhampton has been removed from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register following a hearing at the regulator's offices in London.

Mr Leonard Bevan was employed as Manager of Cranmere Court Nursing Home, Tettenhall at the time of the allegations which involved instances of delivering poor care to three particularly vulnerable residents between June 2000 and November 2002.

Between June and November 2000, Mr Bevan was found guilty of providing inadequate care with regard to the treatment a 64 year old resident with Downs Syndrome. He failed to provide adequate treatment to the person's pressure areas, neglected to assess dietary requirements and nutritional status, and didn't respond to the resident's deteriorating condition by not preparing an adequate care plan or regularly assessing and reviewing the resident's condition.

In March 2002 Mr Bevan failed to recognise and act upon the health and condition of an 82 year old resident suffering from Dementia and who had a history of falls, specifically the symptoms associated with a fractured neck of femur.

Between August 2001 and November 2002, Mr Bevan failed to carry out an appropriate admission assessment or complete a detailed care plan for another 82 year old resident with Parkinson's disease and Dementia. He failed to prepare a care plan which related to the resident's conditions; failed to maintain records of urine output and continence; assumed wrongly that the resident's abdominal distension was due to a hernia; and failed to contact a GP or seek medical treatment when it was appropriate to do so.

Commenting on the panel's decision, NMC spokesperson, Leila Harris said: "Mr Bevan's failures to deliver the required standard of care caused pain and suffering to three vulnerable residents in his care. As a registered nurse, he is personally accountable for his practice and is therefore answerable for his acts and omissions. As a manager he should have set an example of good nursing practice and his actions were contrary to several sections of his Code of Conduct. The independent panel determined that the reputation of the Council and the nursing profession would be undermined if Mr Bevan remained 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 practise within the UK and by setting standards for their education, training and conduct. Currently the number of registrants exceeds 686,000. The Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 (The Order), sets out the NMC's role and responsibilities.

- The independent panel is selected from a pool of individuals appointed by the Appointments Board. They come from a variety of backgrounds and are not NMC Council members, nor do they sit on any committee of the Council.

Nursing and Midwifery Council

• Additional
• References
• Citations