Nurse who gave patients wrong medication suspended - The Stratford Observer

Nurse who gave patients wrong medication suspended

Stratford Editorial 2nd Aug, 2016 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

A NURSE has been suspended after a panel heard how she left a woman lying on blood soaked sheets and gave patients the wrong medication.

Fiona Cutts, who works for South Warwickshire Foundation Trust, has been handed a 12 month suspension order after a hearing in front of the Nursing and Midwife Council (NMC).

The panel of three members found Mrs Cutts had left a woman in a gown which was ‘soaked with blood’ and on blood-soaked sheets.

She also gave a patient the wrong type of anti-sickness drug, incorrectly gave another morphine and failed to notice a patient was breathing abnormally.




Concerns were first raised about Mrs Cutts competence in 2012 and since then there has been a number of complaints about her practice.

Last July the nurse chose to resign from her position before taking on a role as a clinical support worker with the trust.


A spokesman for the NMC panel said: “Mrs Cutts was not a newly-qualified nurse but had been practicing since 1998. She was given extensive support by the trust over a three year period but still did not meet the standard expected of her.

“Mrs Cutts’ was not fulfilling some of the basic nursing standards. Her lack of competence put patients at considerable risk of harm.

“There is a real risk of repetition should Mrs Cutts be permitted to return to unrestricted practice.”

The panel chose to suspend the nurse for 12 months and say the order will then be reviewed and could be revoked or replaced with another.

In the meantime Mrs Cutts will continue to work with the trust as a clinical support worker.

A spokesman from SWFT said: “Patient safety is at the forefront of our work.

“When performance issues with this member of staff were identified appropriate steps were immediately taken. The trust followed a robust performance management process which included a referral to the NMC.

“This individual is no longer working as a registered nurse within the trust.

“The NMC hearing noted that there were no previous regulatory concerns and the member of staff showed some initial improvement in practice following recognition of their errors.

“As a result the individual has been reassigned as a clinical support worker.

“This role does not include the planning of patient care or administration of medication and this individual is supervised at all times by fully qualified healthcare professionals.”

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