A CARE home nurse who lied about giving a dying resident painkillers has been suspended.
Amanda Jayne Jones, who was a registered nurse at Galanos House in Southam, 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 Jones lied about giving and offering medication to residents, including one who was receiving end of life care.
She also gave one man his morning and evening medication in one dose because he was having a ‘good day’.
Care home management attended the hearing to explain about the errors made by the nurse – who was employed at the home on Banbury Road between July 2014 and May 2016.
Last April Jones pre-signed 11 residents’ charts to say medication – including morphine and antibiotics – had been given when in fact it had not.
She had also signed the charts to falsely say painkillers had been offered to those who needed it.
The home’s deputy manager told the panel how she had visited one of the residents first thing in the morning and was shocked to see all of her medication for the day had already been signed for.
She said: “One of the residents was receiving end of life care and I wanted to ensure she was pain free. When I saw the resident her brow was furrowed and she appeared to be in some discomfort.
“I saw all the medication had been signed for I took the chart to the home manager as I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
Staff then checked the drug charts of all other residents and discovered Jones had signed the charts in advance before medication had been given or offered.
She had also signed that medication had been declined by residents, when she had not offered it to them on the basis they did not usually accept it.
Jones said she had pre-signed the medication charts so she could spend more time offering end-of-life care to the dying resident.
But the NMC panel said her actions showed Jones had put her own needs before those of the residents’ and that she had shown little remorse since her errors were discovered.
A spokeswoman said: “Ms Jones failed to acknowledge the serious of her medication errors and her dishonest behaviour. Instead, she had focused on the negative impact it has had on her.
“The misconduct in this case, whilst serious, was limited to one day in an otherwise long nursing career.
“The panel decided that a suspension order is the most appropriate sanction in this case, so as to mark the seriousness of her misconduct and to satisfy the public interest.”
A spokeswoman for the Royal British Legion, which runs the Galanos House care home, said: “We cannot comment on any details regarding a Legion employee, current or former. We have robust medication administration and auditing policies and procedures in place in our care homes which comply with Care Quality Commission and Nursing and Midwifery Council guidelines to ensure the safeguarding of all of our residents.”
