Care home nurse struck off after lying to family of gran who choked to death on sandwich
A care home nurse lied to a grieving family and said their gran died in her sleep – when she actually choked to death on a sandwich.
Joan George, 73, choked during a meal at Abbey Court Care Home in Bourne, Lincolnshire, on September 28, 2016.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council panel heard nurse Neil Wright told Mrs George’s daughter-in-law that the pensioner was fed her supper at 10.15pm and then put to bed, where she was later found dead.
But when Mandy George went to collect Mrs George’s belongings the following day, another carer warned her to ask more questions, ‘as they were not being told the truth about what happened’.
Documents later revealed Mrs George, who had dementia, started choking on a sandwich while being fed by a healthcare assistant.
But staff had a ‘lack of inadequate training’ and although Mr Wright tried to remove the blockage alongside other care workers, Mrs George died at the scene.
He also called 999 at the time of the emergency.
Following the four-day misconduct hearing last week, Mr Wright was struck off the nursing register for 18 months with a 28-day appeal period.
The panel concluded: ‘Both Resident A (Joan George) and Resident B were put at an unwarranted risk (which) resulted in actual harm as a result of Mr Wright’s misconduct.
‘In addition, Mr Wright’s lack of candour in respect of the circumstances of Resident A’s death caused her family further distress.
‘The panel’s view is that there had been evidence of a deliberate misuse of power by Mr Wright impacting on vulnerable residents, care staff dependent on Mr Wright and Resident A’s family.’
It added he had ‘actively’ participated in the emergency and was ‘fully aware of the circumstances’ of what happened.
As a result he had ‘not been open not honest’ and had ‘deliberately misled’ Mrs George’s family.
The panel said his actions fells ‘significantly short of the standards expected of a registered nurse’ and brought the profession into disrepute.
Eight misconduct charges against him were found to be proven – four in relation to the death of Mrs George, and four in relation to two falls suffered by a resident with dementia.
Mr Wright was found to have failed to take clinical observations, record them or report them.
The hearing heard in mitigation that Mr Wright may have been under stress at the time due to personal circumstances.
But the panel concluded he had ‘very limited remorse’ and a ‘lack of meaningful engagement’ with the investigation. Mr Wright did not attend the hearing.
Mandy, speaking on behalf of Mrs George’s family after the hearing, said: ‘It’s been a struggle.
‘No-one wanted to listen to us at the outset. We have had to fight longer and harder than we should have.
‘If we had been listened to, maybe the incident in 2019 would not have happened; it could have spared another family some concerns.
‘That person suffered when they shouldn’t have suffered because he did not do the checks he should have done.
‘We have continued to try and find out and to get some justice for my mother-in-law.
‘It’s just something we could not really let go of as a family. Everything has dragged on and it hasn’t helped my husband and his sister to really put their grief to bed.’
Mandy, from Deeping St James, thanked the whistleblower who tipped her off that day and said her family could finally ‘put to bed the grief and the hurt’ seven years on.
She added: ‘I’m just pleased he can no longer nurse. We still don’t know why he lied to us.
‘I don’t know if he just panicked. Even at the inquest he said he couldn’t remember.
‘We will probably never know the truth of what happened that night.
‘Unless the people in that room want to tell us, we will never know.’
An inquest previously ruled there were a ‘string of blunders’ at the care home around the time of Mrs George’s death.
A spokesperson for Priory Adult Care, which runs Abbey Court, said: ‘We expect all our nursing staff and other colleagues to uphold the highest standards of care, in the interests of those we have the privilege to look after.
‘We have robust internal disciplinary measures and work closely with regulatory bodies, including the NMC, to take action where appropriate.
‘We cannot comment further on individual cases.’
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