Care home nurse suspended after failing to call doctor after fall

CARE home nurse Barbara Hill has been suspended after ignoring a fallen resident's plea for a doctor.

The elderly resident was found unconscious in bed the next morning.

Mrs Hill was found guilty of misconduct after failing to call a doctor, not inquiring why the

resident was on the floor and not checking up on her properly.

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She was working at the troubled Uplands Nursing and Residential Home in Maisemore shortly before health watchdogs swooped and Gloucestershire County Council pulled all its funded residents out.

The home, in Church Road, subsequently closed.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing in London was told the resident was found on the floor by a care assistant on the evening of October 21, 2010.

Although the resident asked for a doctor, the NMC panel found Mrs Hill didn't call one. But when the resident was found unconscious in bed the next morning, she was taken to hospital.

Mrs Hill admitted not taking blood pressure, only checking her pulse.

"The panel appreciated that a registered nurse would not be expected to automatically call a doctor upon a patient's request and that each case should be assessed according to its own merits," it found.

"The panel acknowledged that the resident in question was suffering from dementia and that she was communicating in a confused manner.

"Nevertheless, in these particular circumstances the panel found that there was an obligation on Mrs Hill to call a doctor.

"Given the potential seriousness and nature of the injuries, particularly after a fall, the panel concluded that it would be normal procedure and would be expected of a nurse in Mrs Hill's position that she call a doctor irrespective of whether the patient had asked for one."

However it stopped short of striking her off and imposed a nine-month suspension.

Care Quality Commission inspectors swooped on the home in November 2010 and had such "major concerns" about safety that it was not allowed to reopen.