A NURSE accused of leaving a patient “distressed” after wrongly telling him he had cancer will face a hearing next month.
Ellen Agnes Murray, a nurse at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, is also accused of bringing an insect into an operating theatre.
The patient had only been told cancer was a possibility, but in February 2008 Ms Murray noted in his records he had the condition, it is claimed.
She will face a hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) on
10 September, where she could be struck off if it is found she committed serious misconduct.
“Wrong drugs”
The NMC has brought 23 charges of misconduct against Ms Murray, relating to incidents between April 2007 and June 2008 when she was a nurse and a nursing auxiliary.
The NMC charges tell Ms Murray: “On or around 7th February 2008 you documented in patient H’s records that he had cancer, although the patient had only been told this was a possibility, causing distress to the patient.”
She is also accused of administering the wrong drug to a patient, administering drugs to patients too early, and giving a patient I fluids with the wrong concentration of potassium.
The saline solution had 20mmol (milimole) of potassium when only 10mmol was prescribed, it is claimed.
In March 2008 Ms Murray also removed a catheter from a patient despite being told not to do so, the NMC says.
She is also charged with “bringing an insect into theatre on one date during this period” and “contaminating a crate required for theatre on more than one occasion“.
It is said she failed to show “the standard of knowledge, skills and judgement required” with regards to infection control by doing so.
She is also accused of failing to follow instructions by storing a blood sample in a fridge despite being told it was not clean enough.
“Abandoning”
In a separate case, a nurse at a care home in Glasgow has been accused of failing to help a patient who was lying on the floor with a head wound.
Susan Siew Tai Strickland is accused of not telling staff to move other residents away from the patient, named only as “Patient A.”
She is said to have failed to call an ambulance as well as failing to give another staff member a cold compress for the resident’s head.
The incident is said to have happened on 1 April 2010.
Ms Strickland is also accused of abandoning a unit in the home for 45 minutes when she was the only nurse on duty on 9 May 2010.
A male nurse at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Moray is also accused of falling asleep while on constant observation duty on 23 March 2008.
Mark Fettes Robertson is also accused of calling a woman an “arse licker” and causing her alarm or distress by staring at her, it is said.
