Nurse and healthcare worker drugged NHS stroke patients so they could have an ‘easy shift’
A NURSE and healthcare worker drugged stroke patients at an NHS hospital so they could have an “easy shift”.
Catherine Hudson, 54, has been convicted of giving unprescribed sedatives to two patients over a 21-month period.
She was also found guilty of conspiring with her colleague Charlotte Wilmot, 48, to give a sedative to a third patient.
Cops said they committed the acts from 2017 at the Blackpool Victoria, Lancs, for their “own amusement” and “out of spite for the patients”.
In a text exchange, Hudson bragged that she’d sedated a patient “within an inch of her life”, adding: “Bet she’s flat for a week, ha ha.”
She used different drugs, including insomnia medication zopiclone, which can be life-threatening if given inappropriately.
The offences were committed between February 2017 and November 2018.
Prosecutor Peter Wright KC said they treated patients “with contempt”.
Judge Robert Altham remanded Hudson into custody following the verdicts, which were reached after nearly 14 hours of deliberation, and told her she faced jail.
Wilmot, an assistant practitioner, was granted bail and was told the “overwhelming likelihood” was that she too would be caged.
The pair, both from Blackpool, were investigated after a student nurse who had been on a work placement reported them to the authorities.