Catalogue of nurses' charges is revealed

Misconduct hearings are currently taking place in London against Denise Ann Bentley, Caroline Ann Wellington, Deborah Travis, Joanne Lesley Thomas, Karen Conroy and Laura Jayne Bradbury.

The charges all relate to their alleged treatment between December 13 and 17 2010 of a person identified only as Patient A by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Ms Wellington has been identified as a ward manager at Wigan Infirmary and the other five as registered nurses.

Ms Wellington is accused of failing to ensure a blood sample was taken and tested and then on December 17 not examining Patient A, not reading the medical records and observation charts and not seeking information from other members of staff.

Ms Bradbury is accused of failing to ensure a doctor reviewed Patient A’s condition during an overnight shift and not doing enough to be fully up to speed with how he was doing.

She is also accused of failing to challenge the administration of oramorph to Patient A despite showing signs of respiratory problems and failing to ensure regular observations were made through the night.

At the following morning’s handover Ms Bradbury is then accused of not passing on important information about the seriousness of Patient A’s condition, including the fact they were suffering from numbness and had low oxygen saturation levels.

Ms Wellington faces charges that within the space of two and a half hours on December 17 2010 she wrongly allowed two different drugs to be given to Patient A, did not act on information he was in pain or unable to move his arm by carrying out a review of his records and failed to inform a shift co-ordinator or doctor that his condition had become more serious.

Ms Travis faces very similar charges as she was working at the same time as Ms Wellington, although she is only accused of permitting him one drug which it had been suggested he should not have had. Ms Thomas is accused of administering a drug to Patient A at around 12.20pm on December 17 without first reading his charts or taking into account his signs of respiratory issues.

Ms Conroy faces no fewer than five charges relating to allegations of misconduct on both the overnight shift and the following morning.

She is accused of failing to ensure a doctor reviewed Patient A, not reading his observation charts or examining him, administering tramadol despite his oxygen saturation levels being low, giving him another drug despite his breathing problems, failing to ensure observations were done between 2am and 8am on December 17 and not mentioning a whole raft of important information at the morning handover. The hearings are scheduled to last until July 21.