Nurse’s basic care failures left patient in near-death state
Posted 31 October 2024 - 15:26
NMC strikes off mental health nurse who failed to visit vulnerable patient on a regular basis, keep accurate records or carry out effective care planning
A nurse who failed to carry out fortnightly visits to a vulnerable mental health service user who was later found in a ‘horrific and near-death’ state has been struck off for repeated basic failings.
Denise Naylor was a care coordinator at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust when she neglected to carry out regular visits to Patient A, who had a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, between December 2021 and May 2022.
Failure of communication about patient’s care
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) fitness to practise (FtP) panel also heard Ms Naylor had failed to record and inform colleagues when an independent agency, KV Care, withdrew their homecare package in March 2022. This had provided three-daily visits and shopping for the patient.
When she left the trust in May 2022, she failed to provide a coherent handover of the man’s care to colleagues, nor did she inform them he was no longer having daily visits from the agency.
A month after her departure, a healthcare support worker went to the service user’s home to carry out a blood test but called police when there was no response at the door. The man was discovered bedridden, lying in faeces and in a ‘near death’ state. He needed a significant time in hospital to recover.
No record of five home visits nurse said she attempted
Ms Naylor told a trust investigation she had visited Patient A’s home five times between December 2021 and March 2022. There was no record of these visits.
She told the NMC: ‘I attended the address on numerous occasions where there was no answer despite his blinds being open as they usually were, items were moved in his living room which could be seen through a gap in the blinds which did not raise my concerns’.
NMC highlighted failures in basic fundamental nursing skills
The panel found Ms Naylor’s failure to persist in trying to contact with Patient A and to take action following the withdrawal of his daily care package heightened the significant risk to the patient.
The panel said: ‘Had Miss Naylor ensured daily visits or regular contact continued after KV Care withdrew, the horrific and near-death condition that Patient A was found in after being left without a visit of any sort for four weeks could have been avoided.’
The panel found Ms Naylor’s actions amounted to fundamental and repeated failures of nursing care, including in recordkeeping, documenting visits, care planning and safeguarding vulnerable patients.
Nurse ‘truly sorry’ to hear of patient’s condition
In a statement, Ms Naylor told the NMC: ‘I am truly sorry and quite distressed to hear of how the patient had deteriorated. At no time did I receive any communication regarding this before finally leaving the team on 26 May 2023.
The mental health nurse later went on to work at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust where she was found to have been responsible for recordkeeping failures including not keeping contemporaneous notes on seven patients.
Ms Naylor was given 28 days to appeal.
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