Wigan care home manager struck off after 'bullying' colleague and failing to report residents' deaths

Deborah Cank had been registered as a nurse since 1989 and was home manager at Lakeside Nursing Home, in Standish, when allegations were made by a former colleague in February 2020.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council’s fitness to practise committee has now met to consider the allegations. Miss Cank did not attend.

No evidence was offered on seven charges, but the other six charges were found to be proven.

These covered Miss Cank failing to send statutory notifications for 15 residents’ deaths from September to December 2019 to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and failing to send an action plan required to be submitted in December 2019.

She was also found to have told a colleague in February 2020 that notifications for one or more of the deaths had been sent to the CQC and local authority, with the committee finding that conduct was “dishonest” as she knew she had not sent them.

It was found proved that Miss Cank failed to document and investigate a safeguarding concern raised by a colleague in November 2019, in which he alleged to have witnessed two senior carers moving a resident out of a wheelchair into an armchair using an inappropriate method.

She called the colleague a “s*** stirrer” for raising the concern and this was “intended to bully and/or intimidate” him, the panel found.

It was determined that Miss Cank’s actions “were sufficiently serious to amount to misconduct”.

A finding that her fitness to practise was impaired was considered “necessary on the grounds of public protection”, as well as “on public interest grounds”.

When deciding her sanction, the panel considered her “otherwise unblemished record”, but also aggravating features which included her actions being a “breach of trust”, failing to investigate a concern could put residents at risk of harm and evidence of “deep-seated attitudinal issues arising from bullying behaviour, dishonesty and failure to follow regulatory procedures in the home”.

The panel decided to strike Miss Cank off the register, with an 18-month interim suspension order to cover the appeal period.

Stacey Astin, regional manager of Millennium Care, which runs Lakeside Nursing Home, said: “At Millennium Care we pride ourselves on a robust track record supported by all of our Care Quality Commission key lines of enquiry being rated as outstanding and good through all of our homes. This is supported by both a strong governance process and systems that allow those to openly share their feedback.

"In this instance, both had proven to be effective in identifying the practice of Deborah Cank that fell short of our high expectations. Action had been taken swiftly to remove her from our service and also our duty to notify the NMC of our concerns that were not aligned to our values.

"We support the decision of the NMC from the hearing and hold in high regard the role they play in keeping those who need nursing care safe.”