Nurse - struck off. Appeal / advice?

[p3t3r]

Hello,

 

A friend / colleague was struck off. She can not work as an RN since being struck off. After speaking with her earlier today, she has no intention of returning to the nursing profession (private or NHS) since the ordeal of the case against her.

 

However - she does want to clear her name of any wrongdoing.

 

At court, she was found guilty of neglect, a patient fell out of bed. In her court case, there are some concerns.

 

1. Her barrister didn't bring any of the witness statements from her colleagues which showed that the owner was infact lying and covering up in relation to her repeated request for maintenance.

 

2. On the night of the incident, my friend had to work a double shift (since there was no staff).

 

3. No attention given to the fact that the nursing home had approximately 10 or so managers in the 2 years prior to my friend accepting management position there.

 

4. No attention given to the fact and evidence that my friend requested a repair to the faulty bed, email sent to bed manufacturers, entry made in maintenance book, nursing home owners informed of bed.

 

5. At court, it was discussed that my friend disposed of the bed. It was then discussed that my friend was actually disposing of evidence.

 

There are a few other inaccuracies and concerns for court case.

 

Friend has given about £8,000.00 to the barrister dealing in the court case but feels that the barrister did not perform to the best of his ability since a lot of witness statements were ignored.

 

 

I know the owner of the nursing home (he is a GP). From what I understand, various other managers worked at the nursing home and left simply because repairs and maintenance was ignored. My friend has worked in other nursing homes which were due to be embargoed.

She is a very well known nurse and I know that some nursing homes actually have headhunted her because of her abilities to turn a bad nursing home into a good nursing home.

 

I have worked with my friend in a hospital and she is one of the few nurses I would consider to go beyond their minimum required duty when dealing with patients. I have not worked with her in nursing homes, though, on two occasions i did have to make a visit to nursing home where she worked. After reason for my visit concluded, she showed me around the home as she was proud of the fact that she turned it from being closed down to that of a much higher standard.

 

This nurse should not have been struck off.

 

Is it possible so she can make an appeal? Clear her name? She feels that if full explanations and evidence was shown in court, then she would have been found not guilty, whilst the GP who is the owner of the home is found guilty?

 

 

(Off topic, but I know of far too many GPs who own nursing homes)

 

Any help / advice appreciated, thanks!

[BazzaS]

Hello,

 

A friend / colleague was struck off. She can not work as an RN since being struck off. After speaking with her earlier today, she has no intention of returning to the nursing profession (private or NHS) since the ordeal of the case against her.

 

However - she does want to clear her name of any wrongdoing.

 

At court, she was found guilty of neglect, a patient fell out of bed. In her court case, there are some concerns.

 

1. Her barrister didn't bring any of the witness statements from her colleagues which showed that the owner was infact lying and covering up in relation to her repeated request for maintenance.

 

2. On the night of the incident, my friend had to work a double shift (since there was no staff).

 

3. No attention given to the fact that the nursing home had approximately 10 or so managers in the 2 years prior to my friend accepting management position there.

 

4. No attention given to the fact and evidence that my friend requested a repair to the faulty bed, email sent to bed manufacturers, entry made in maintenance book, nursing home owners informed of bed.

 

5. At court, it was discussed that my friend disposed of the bed. It was then discussed that my friend was actually disposing of evidence.

 

There are a few other inaccuracies and concerns for court case.

 

Friend has given about £8,000.00 to the barrister dealing in the court case but feels that the barrister did not perform to the best of his ability since a lot of witness statements were ignored.

 

 

I know the owner of the nursing home (he is a GP). From what I understand, various other managers worked at the nursing home and left simply because repairs and maintenance was ignored. My friend has worked in other nursing homes which were due to be embargoed.

She is a very well known nurse and I know that some nursing homes actually have headhunted her because of her abilities to turn a bad nursing home into a good nursing home.

 

I have worked with my friend in a hospital and she is one of the few nurses I would consider to go beyond their minimum required duty when dealing with patients. I have not worked with her in nursing homes, though, on two occasions i did have to make a visit to nursing home where she worked. After reason for my visit concluded, she showed me around the home as she was proud of the fact that she turned it from being closed down to that of a much higher standard.

 

This nurse should not have been struck off.

 

Is it possible so she can make an appeal? Clear her name? She feels that if full explanations and evidence was shown in court, then she would have been found not guilty, whilst the GP who is the owner of the home is found guilty?

 

 

(Off topic, but I know of far too many GPs who own nursing homes)

 

Any help / advice appreciated, thanks!

 

 

She almost certainly would have been informed of her right to appeal.

If she wasn't, she would have grounds to make an appeal "out of time", otherwise any appeal should be made within 28 days of the ruling.

 

http://www.nmc.org.uk/concerns-nurses-midwives/in/appeals/

[Atlas01]

From memory being struck off by the NMC has a 28 day appeal limit but this is where you should be checking "Nursing and Midwifery Council"

 

Her barrister should have advised the appeals limits and right to appeal. However the one issue here i'm focusing on is if she has consistently raised over the bed being faulty then why put someone in it. If after the accident she then removes it i can see why the employer used this as evidence against her.

 

Unfortunately unless you were stood there when the incident happened and know the exact chain of events from seeing them in person your opinion of her being struck off is irrelevant, only a court/tribunal can decide and they have - not trying to be dismissive here, just realistic, in my experience winning an appeal is always harder than defending the first case.

 

If her role was to assess the patients needs and she knowingly failed to provide the correct care/equipment or she failed to follow the care plan then she will have been struck off and these decisions are never taken willy nilly.

 

If they found her to be without remorse "not my fault, i told them the bed was knackered" or evasive/deceptive this certainly will have counted against her. Forget her opinion its the MNC's that matter in the cold light of day.

 

Sorry to be blunt, your being a good friend but this is her battle and her fight, unless you know this area of employment law and procedural requirements very well you will not be helping her at all.

 

I'd put money on it that if i read the ruling it would be crystal clear procedurally why she was stuck off and why she had little to no chance of success. I do like to have my words rammed back down my mouth on these occasision but every case i dealt with in this area needed a high level of evidence for the ruling body to even consider striking off, in the majority of cases the employee was easily dismissed but not often escalated to this level. I didn't cover NHS it was the POVA list in my case but their procedures and criteria were very similar.

 

Most importantly is she still in time to appeal

[ericsbrother]

If her barrister failed to raise certain points then she will get little sympathy from an appeal as the procedures were correctly adhered to and no challenge to the law so nothing really to consider.

I know from experience of other appeals matters that having a good case as far as the facts go do not trump the correct procedural matters and you dont win.

[ScarletPimpernel]

The question I would be asking is what action the nurse took at the time about repairs not being done and so forth, such as reporting to the CQC.

[p3t3r]

thanks for all your help!

 

She did not appeal within the 28 days.

 

The question I would be asking is what action the nurse took at the time about repairs not being done and so forth, such as reporting to the CQC.

 

1. Staff reported that the bed is broken.

2. Friend sent email to owner of nursing home (a GP) plus email to the manufacturer of the bed asking for its repair.

3. Friend asked staff to place the resident in a different room, staff did not do this.

4. Friend had no choice other than to work a 24+ hour shift because there was a shortage of staff. Friend does not get paid for working extra. During this extended shift, the resident fell out of bed and fractured his hip.

 

At court, the barrister did not mention the emails as above. No attention was brought to the fact that the owner of the nursing home had been informed about this as well as the manufacturer of the bed had been requested to repair the bed. (both of which can be proven by email)

 

Previous managers / RN of the nursing home, I can not remember the exact figure, although it is around 10 managers in 2 years.

 

There are statements from ex staff and current staff of the nursing home stating there is a constant problem between management and the owner. A lot of the statements show that my friend did a lot of unpaid work within the home because of a lack of qualified staff who would work there. (basically it is a dump... and my friend is head hunted by such places who need to dramatically improve, she has to her credit a portfolio of nursing homes which had received either embargo status or low status - she has managed to turn each place around into achieving a higher inspection report.

[BazzaS]

thanks for all your help!

 

She did not appeal within the 28 days.

.

 

Then (unless her or her legal adviser weren't informed of the 28 day limit, and I'd bet they were......)

 

She is out of time to appeal, and the information following is moot.

 

 

1. Staff reported that the bed is broken.

2. Friend sent email to owner of nursing home (a GP) plus email to the manufacturer of the bed asking for its repair.

3. Friend asked staff to place the resident in a different room, staff did not do this.

4. Friend had no choice other than to work a 24+ hour shift because there was a shortage of staff. Friend does not get paid for working extra. During this extended shift, the resident fell out of bed and fractured his hip.

 

At court, the barrister did not mention the emails as above. No attention was brought to the fact that the owner of the nursing home had been informed about this as well as the manufacturer of the bed had been requested to repair the bed. (both of which can be proven by email)

 

Previous managers / RN of the nursing home, I can not remember the exact figure, although it is around 10 managers in 2 years.

 

There are statements from ex staff and current staff of the nursing home stating there is a constant problem between management and the owner. A lot of the statements show that my friend did a lot of unpaid work within the home because of a lack of qualified staff who would work there. (basically it is a dump... and my friend is head hunted by such places who need to dramatically improve, she has to her credit a portfolio of nursing homes which had received either embargo status or low status - she has managed to turn each place around into achieving a higher inspection report.

[Guest]

a sideish issue, am not familiar (so delete if n/a), but does this case still apply? http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice/patient-safety/high-court-ruling-prevents-nmc-from-striking-off-incompetent-nurses/5063898.article

if so, has yr friend been subject to suspension order prior?

[Guest]

link seems to have gone abit awol.

was re a case where a nurse cldnt be struck off unless subject to a prior suspension order.

trying to find it

[Guest]

some info re appeals

http://www.nursesdefenceservice.com/nurses-appeals

 

was a scot case, subject to appeal

http://www.hbjwlaw.co.uk/blog/nmc-can-no-longer-strike-off-nurses

[Guest]

heres a better info, re okeke case

http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2013/09/27/incompetent-nurses-can-no-longer-be-struck-off-says-health-watchdog/

 

ps, if my posts are n/a on thread, please delete them site team