A care home nurse who repeatedly doubled a patient’s medication has been allowed to continue practising despite a finding of serious misconduct.
Six times Nina Chengo gave the mentally-ill patient 10mg of anti-anxiety drug diazepam instead of 5mg and failed to seek advice from senior staff or the patient’s GP.
The patient at Bandrum Nursing Home, Dunfermline, was unharmed but the Nursing and Midwifery Council said such behaviour could have posed a risk to those in her care.
Although she was found to have committed serious misconduct, an NMC panel concluded that she remained fit to practise.
Mrs Chengo is now working for another care home.
A report of the NMC hearing in London last week stated: ”The panel is satisfied in all the circumstances that Mrs Chengo’s fitness to practise is not currently impaired.”
Mrs Chengo had made a full and frank admission at the outset, it said, and expressed regret.
The report also said: ”In the panel’s judgement the risk that Mrs Chengo will repeat the errors which led to these charges is small.
”The panel is satisfied that Mrs Chengo does not present a risk to the public and that a finding that Mrs Chengo’s fitness to practise is not impaired would not undermine the public confidence in the profession and the NMC as its regulator.”
Mrs Chengo had worked at the home, which cares for patients with enduring mental problems and cognitive impairment, since 2009 but was suspended and dismissed after the incidents, which took place between March and June 2011.
The alarm was raised by a bank nurse and an investigation launched.
Mrs Chengo told the panel she had misinterpreted the wording of the prescription, focusing on the 24 hours limit rather than the single-dosage limit.
The panel also heard she had informed other nurses of the medication she had given at shift handover.
The panel said it was reasonable to expect a registered nurse to be able to understand a prescription properly and that Mrs Chengo had failed to provide a high standard of care at all times.
It said: ”While the panel heard no evidence that any harm came to Patient A, and noted the error in medication administration was essentially the same error repeated on five other occasions, Mrs Chengo’s conduct if repeated could have the potential to cause harm to patients in the future.”
Mrs Chengo told the panel she was now extra-cautious in administering medication.
Her new employer, Fairlight Nursing Home, where she has worked full-time since December last year, provided a testimonial which stated: ”We conduct regular medication administration audits and are confident in the competence of Nina.
”She is professional and diligent in all aspects of her work.”