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A care home nurse failed to respond to a distressed resident before telling an inspector, “she’s end of life, what do you expect?” a disciplinary panel heard.
Loredana-Maria Ursaru had to be told three times to attend to a “vulnerable” woman who was screaming, “please help me, I’m scared”.
The nurse was sacked from Pavilion Court Care Home in Cowgate, Newcastle, following the incident in October 2018.
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Now the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) has said Ursaru can continue to practice as a nurse – but have imposed conditions on her for 18 months after finding a series of allegations against her proved.
The panel heard that in October 2018 Ursaru was employed by Akari Care Ltd at Pavilion Court care home.
A report of the hearing said the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited the home that month to carry out an unannounced inspection.
It said that shortly after her arrival the inspector heard a resident, referred to as Resident A, “screaming, through the bedroom door, ‘I’m scared I’m scared, help me help me. Please help me. I’m scared.’”
The report said two Care Assistants were further along the corridor and that the CQC Inspector asked them to check on Resident A “but they did not do so as they were putting personal care equipment away”.
The panel found that Ursaru, the nurse on duty that day, was asked three times to attend to the “vulnerable” resident, but only went on the third time after the witness identified herself as a CQC inspector.
The inspector, referred to as Witness 1, said when she first asked Ursaru to check on the woman, Ursaru responded that “her [Resident A’s] observations were at 07:00”.
The report said the witness asked a second time, and Ursaru responded, “she’s end of life, what do you expect?”
It went on to say, “Witness 1 informed Miss Ursaru that she was a CQC Inspector and made a third request for Miss Ursaru to attend to Resident A, who was still demonstrating distress.
“Only at this stage, after three requests and approximately five minutes after the first request, did Miss Ursaru enter Resident A’s room.”
The NMC found the allegations proved, as well as allegations that Ursaru then failed to document that Resident A had shown signs of distress in her behaviour chart, night report and daily statement of wellbeing.
A representative of the NMC told the panel that, “The words uttered by Miss Ursaru were highly unprofessional, offensive and had the potential to cause harm. Further, the words demonstrated a lack of respect and concern for Resident A’s dignity.”
The Royal College of Nursing submitted, “The issues raised in this case are, on any view, isolated and are not indicative of any widespread issue in Ms Ursaru’s nursing practice.
“The isolated nature of the concerns raised in this case is further demonstrated by the testimonial evidence which invariably describes Ms Ursaru as a competent nurse who discharges her responsibilities compassionately.”
The report said, “The panel noted that the charges found proved are serious and involved the poor treatment of a vulnerable resident, inappropriate communication and record keeping concerns.
“It considered that public confidence in the profession would be undermined if a finding of impairment was not made in this case.”
The panel imposed a conditions of practice order on Ursaru for 18 months. The conditions include that she must not be the nurse in charge duty on any shift and must not work as a registered nurse on a nightshift.
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