A nurse who manhandled an elderly resident at a private care home in Falkirk has been struck off.
David McDade used “inappropriate restraint” on the pensioner at Newcarron Court after he reacted angrily when the nurse took his newspaper.
The 58-year-old grabbed the resident’s wrists and held his arms by his sides during a stand-up row.
McDade, from Bonnybridge, failed to report the incident, which happened in November 2008, when he worked at the Bupa care home.
When challenged about the lack of paperwork, he said: “If I document every time I would always be writing,” according to a witness at a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) misconduct hearing.
The panel was also told that he threatened to catheterise an elderly woman who was making frequent trips to the toilet.
McDade was sacked by managers at Newcarron but went on to work at a care home in Lennoxtown, where he abused another pensioner.
The hearing was told that the nurse twisted a frail man’s arm behind his back before shouting: “Can you feel that pain?”
In a written judgment, the NMC panel said that McDade “exhibited potential attitudinal problems and a total lack of insight” and warned that there is “a real risk of repetition”.
The panel ruled that his misconduct is “fundamentally incompatible with his remaining on the Nursing and Midwifery Council Register”.
Witnesses told the panel that McDade was “red-faced and angry” during the incident at Newcarron Court on November 16 2008.
They said it was “the normal practice” of the resident to bring his newspaper into the dining room but the nurse removed it, prompting a “nose-to-nose” argument.
McDade’s muscles “tensed up” as he held the pensioner’s wrists by his sides, according to one witness, who described his behaviour as “forceful”.
McDade admitted in the disciplinary meeting before his dismissal that this was not a technique of restraint which he had been trained in but, when asked, he said he would use it again.
The panel found that McDade’s actions were “unnecessary” and amounted to “inappropriate restraint”. They also ruled that his failure to record the incident “undermined his credibility”.
The NMC panel later heard from a witness who said McDade twice told a frail female resident that he would “catheterise her because she was going to the toilet frequently”.
The panel found the witness to be “reliable and credible” and accepted her evidence.
McDade was employed by Bupa at Newcarron Court Care Home from January 22 2008 until December 9 the same year.
Area director for Bupa Care Home Scotland Kirsty Dace said: “We actively promote care and compassion in all our homes and Mr McDade’s behaviour was completely unacceptable.
“We suspended, then dismissed him, and promptly reported him to the NMC.”
The NMC’s written judgment said: “The panel determined that a suspension order is not a sufficient, appropriate or proportionate sanction to uphold standards and maintain public confidence in the nursing profession.
“The panel, therefore, decided that the only appropriate and proportionate sanction in this case is a striking-off order.”
McDade did not attend the hearing and when approached later he declined to comment.