Nurse who refused to treat patients struck off

The NMC panel found Ms Lacey's conduct was a "significant departure" from what was expected

A nurse who showed "harmful, deep-seated attitudinal issues" when she refused to treat patients and told other colleagues to care for them has been struck off.

Gillian Maureen Lacey, who worked at a care home in Hedge End, Hampshire, was also found to have given a patient an unnecessary dose of medicine.

She was found to have told a colleague at the Maypole Care Home that she was "too busy" to treat one patient.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel found there were "no practical or workable conditions" that could be imposed to allow Ms Lacey to continue working as a nurse.

A colleague alleged Ms Lacey refused to call an ambulance for one ill resident at the home in September 2021. The panel found that was "more likely than not" to have happened.

It also found Ms Lacey gave one patient a dose of levothyroxine, a medicine used to treat an under-active thyroid gland, without adequately checking records.

It was found she gave that inappropriately one morning in February 2022 at about 08:00 when another nurse had given an earlier dose about two hours earlier.

She then signed for the medicine in a box meant for the next day's dose because the correct day had already been properly marked off.

The panel also found she refused to carry out care on a patient's pressure sore and that she told a colleague to deal with it.

The colleague said Ms Lacey had "ripped her head off" about asking for help – but said Ms Lacey needed to deal with the incident because of her seniority.

The colleague immediately reported the incident to the home's manager, the panel heard.

It said Ms Lacey's conduct had been a "significant departure" from the standards expected and that they were "fundamentally incompatible" with her remaining a registered nurse.