A NURSE has been struck off the register after administering a brain tumour patient with sugar and water instead of morphine.
Vijayan Rajoo gave the dying man the solution instead of his prescribed Oramorph on more than one occasion at St Fillans Care Home in Colchester, Essex, between November 2018 and June 2019.
Mr Rajoo initially claimed he gave the patient, who suffered from chronic headaches, his dosage of the painkiller, but later admitted during an internal investigation in June 2019 that he hadn’t.
The learning disability nurse, who is now retired, also failed to carry out checks on the care home’s controlled drugs cabinet “due to laziness”.
However, he falsely recorded that he had been carrying out the routine observations on the man who was meant to be getting given palliative care.
It was during the home’s investigation over Oramorph going missing that Mr Rajoo confessed to administering the sugar and water solution because he didn’t think the patient required the pain killers.
It is unclear how Oramporph went missing from the care home.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) ruled to strike Rajoo from the register last week following a hearing.
In their decision, the NMC said: “It was of the view that he would have been reliant on Mr Rajoo for care and should have been able to trust that he would receive the correct pain relief from the registered nurse looking after him.
“By withholding a medication which was prescribed specifically for Patient A, without any explanation or discussion, Mr Rajoo has abused his position.
“The conduct, as highlighted by the facts found proved, was a significant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse.
“It was of the view that Mr Rajoo’s actions were not an isolated incident and noted that the deep-seated attitudinal problems reflected in his own responses to the NMC makes a suspension order inappropriate.
“The panel noted that the serious breach of the fundamental tenets of the profession evidenced by Mr Rajoo’s actions, and the absence of insight, remorse and remediation and lack of engagement with the NMC regulatory process is fundamentally incompatible with him remaining on the register.
“Mr Rajoo’s actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse, and are fundamentally incompatible with him remaining on the register.
“The panel was of the view that the findings in this particular case demonstrate that Mr Rajoo’s actions were serious and to allow him to continue practising would undermine public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body.
“The panel identified public protection concerns and risk of harm to patients and allowing Mr Rajoo to remain on the register would pose a risk to the public in the future.
“Balancing all of these factors and after taking into account all the evidence before it during this case, the panel determined that the appropriate and proportionate sanction is that of a striking-off order.”
Mr Rajoo, who was on the NMC’s registry since 1984, said that he has “packed up nursing”.
A spokesperson for Excelcare, who own St Fillans Care Home, today said: “Excelcare is proud that in 2019 the actions of this one individual were picked up and reported by the team members on duty.
“This led to the investigation which resulted in this nurse being dismissed.
“This was then reported to the NMC who undertook their own investigation which has
now resulted in the individual VR being struck from the nursing register.
“Compassion, professionalism, and truth are the keystones of our approach to all care, our
investigation found these to be lacking in this case.
“We want to thank the team at St Fillans for all they do every day and for always advocating for
the people they support – especially where a person is not able to do this for themselves.”
