A ST HELENS care home nurse has been struck off after failing to apply dressings correctly, administering medicines wrongly and attempting to deceive colleagues over how tablets were taken and her own competency.

Between March and June 2020, Safina Clay was found to have given one resident at Broad Oak Manor Care Home in St Helens double the amount of required diabetes medication having previously recorded she had correctly administered a laxative to another patient despite not doing so.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) fitness to practise panel felt Ms Clay’s behaviour warranted its strongest possible sanction during a hearing held last month.

Documents released this week revealed how concerns arose regarding Ms Clay in July 2020 when she was referred to the NMC by two former colleagues when working as a registered nurse at the home. A month previously, Ms Clay was said to have given an 80mg dose of diabetes medication to one person known as resident J.

This was twice the amount of dosage they should have been given. This was one of a number of charges found proven during the hearing, held in September.

It was also found how Ms Clay failed to document or make reference to an abnormal oxygen saturation in one person known as resident C, nor did she raise any clinical concern as a result. Ms Clay also failed to escalate this to a GP.

In March 2020, Ms Clay falsely recorded timings that Parkinson’s medication was issued for one person and also incorrectly stated how she had administered a laxative to another resident when she had not done so. The report said: “Colleague D stated that Ms Clay, after having been challenged, stated that she ‘must not have given it’.”

Ms Clay also attempted to remove a second dose from the medication in order to “disguise the mistakes” made, according to the report. It added: “The panel determined that Ms Clay would have known that what she was doing was dishonest and that, by the standards of ordinary decent people, her conduct would be considered dishonest.”

Also during that month, it was found the staff nurse failed to properly apply dressings to three residents. The panel felt it fell within a registered nurse’s remit to properly apply a dressing to a patient, and that it would be expected for Ms Clay to have documented that in each of the residents’ care plans.

The panel further considered the evidence of Colleague D, who in his statement states that three residents were found not to have proper dressings applied. When questioned at the time of the incident, Ms Clay responded and stated that she did not apply dressings to the three residents, but that she had requested help in relation to doing so.

In determining its judgement, officials determined that the concerns were serious, and that the finding of dishonesty, in particular, is serious. The report said: “The panel noted that, for a registrant to conceal and/or attempt to conceal a series of medication errors and then falsify competency documents would have an adverse impact on public confidence in the nursing profession as well as protection of the public.

“The panel determined that this dishonesty suggests that Ms Clay has an attitudinal issue.” It was also said Ms Clay’s actions “could have led to the harm of the residents” under her care, alongside having possibly led to “lack of staff confidence in what medications have and have not been administered for residents under their care.”

Officials were of the view that there is a risk of repetition because Ms Clay had not provided any level of up-to-date insight or strengthening of practice relating to the concerns raised against her. In striking off the nurse, the panel said her actions were a” significant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse and are fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.”

The report added: “The panel noted that the dishonesty in this case is serious and presents an element of deep-seated attitudinal concerns; a nurse is expected to uphold honesty and integrity at all times of their career. Further, the panel noted that Ms Clay has displayed several instances of wide-ranging misconduct which were sustained over a short period of time, such as the lack of care planning, the failure to escalate the deterioration of a resident, the inaccurate recording of medication administration and the dishonesty related to her clinical practice.”