A NURSE faces claims she gave elderly care home residents alcohol – in one case claiming it was cranberry juice.
Nurse Heather Susan Thompson is charged with giving drink to six residents at Hill View Care Home, Clydebank, without considering how it would react with their medication.
She faces further charges she “inappropriately restrained” a resident in the BUPA home and told her to “shut up,” as well as hurling abuse at a man who had wet himself.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing regarding Ms Thompson is scheduled to take place later this month, where she faces 20 charges of misconduct.
An earlier hearing was told she denied the allegations, which relate to May and June 2010.
Hill View cares for 150 residents, some of which have Alzheimers and Parkinson’s disease.
Ms Thompson is charged with asking another woman to “supply a beaker of liquid to Resident B which contained alcohol”.
She is accused of dishonestly telling the other woman, named only as Ms A, “that the beaker contained cranberry juice”.
Charges brought by the NMC says she gave alcohol to six residents at the home, including Resident B, on various occasions in June 2010.
It is said that her actions “gave inadequate consideration to the possible adverse interaction with the residents’ medication.”
She is also charged with inappropriately restraining a resident in order to administer medication and shouting at her to “shut up” or words to that effect.
Dragged
The nurse is said to have dragged or moved the resident from the lounge into a corridor while the resident was “assessed as being at risk of falls.”
She is further accused of behaving aggressively towards residents on several occasions.
The NMC charges say she told one resident: “Look at the state of you! You should be ashamed of yourself wetting the bed! A grown man like you.”
Ms Thompson is also accused of pushing residents into chairs and standing in front of them so they could not stand up.
A previous hearing was shown correspondence between Ms Thompson and the NMC, where she said the charges lacked evidence.
The panel, meeting in September last year, said: “she denies the allegations and argues that a number of the allegations lack any evidence to support them.”
In correspondence with the NMC also said: “I have not worked for this past 2 years, this already has been an unfair sanction…”
The panel suspended her for a year pending a full hearing which is due to start on 25 March.
A BUPA Spokeswoman said: “Our residents’ wellbeing is our number one priority.
“We dismissed and referred Heather Thompson to the NMC more than 2 years ago when she failed to meet the high standards of care we expect.”
