Blackpool healthcare worker said we love sedation, jury told

The nurses are on trial for the alleged ill-treatment of patients

A healthcare worker accused of mistreating patients told a colleague "yeah, sedation we love it" in a Whatsapp message, a court has heard.

Catherine Hudson and Charlotte Wilmot have denied the ill-treatment of stroke patients at Blackpool Victoria Hospital between 2017 and 2018.

Preston Crown Court has heard their messages were uncovered following allegations by a whistleblower.

Ms Wilmot told the jury her comment was not supposed to be "taken literally".

The court has been told a student nurse on a work placement told authorities she saw Ms Hudson give unprescribed Zopiclone, a sleeping pill, to a patient in November 2018.

Prosecutors said messages between Ms Hudson, a 54-year-old experienced Band 5 registered nurse, and Ms Wilmot, a , 48-year-old Band 4 assistant practitioner, went on to reveal a "culture of abuse" - with patients drugged for their "own amusement" and an "easy life".

Cross-examining Ms Wilmot, Peter Wright KC took her through some of the messages.

He said that in May 2016, after Ms Hudson suggested sedating a patient, Ms Wilmot replied: "Ha ha yeah sedation we love it."

"Why are you saying that?" he asked the assistant practitioner.

She replied that it was "just a general comment" and "none of it taken literally".

'A nice day'

The barrister said in another exchange, Ms Hudson wrote that she was "going to kill bed 5" and Ms Wilmot replied that the patient should be sedated "to high heaven".

He said Ms Hudson later wrote she had "sedated him" and he "was gearing up to start", to which Ms Wilmot replied, using tablet and hypodermic needle emojis: "Praise the lord."

Mr Wright said Ms Wilmot was "encouraging her to sedate to high heaven".

"No, I was not encouraging," she replied.

"It was just conversation. I didn't think she was ever going to do that.

"I didn't think actually anything was happening."

She also said she disagreed with Mr Wright's suggestion that "any question of sedation had been always for the benefit of staff or as revenge for the behaviour of patients".

The court was then told that when speaking about a "profoundly unwell" patient who had thrown a beaker of orange juice, Ms Wilmot had told Ms Hudson to "give her the best sleep she ever had".

"What would be the best sleep she ever had?" Mr Wright said.

"If she was asleep all night," Ms Wilmot replied, adding that she was "not sure" how that would be achieved and the message was "just banter".

"I was angry and upset that I couldn't look after my patients to the best of my abilities," she said.

She said it was the "type of thing" the medical profession "joke about", adding: "Not that it looks like joking. It's awful."

Jurors were also told Ms Hudson messaged Ms Wilmot about another female patient, who was not doing "a lot... seeing as I sedated her on [Saturday] and [Sunday]".

Ms Wilmot replied that everything Ms Hudson gave her had "started working", which "made for a nice day".

"That was the motivation for sedation, it made for a nice day?" the barrister said.

"No," Ms Wilmot said.

"The sedation of difficult or demanding patients by you encouraging the nurse who had the wherewithal to do it and an agreement with the nurse to do it if the opportunity arose?" Mr Wright said.

"No," the assistant practitioner replied.

The court was told Ms Wilmot had admitted numerous offences of conspiring with Ms Hudson to steal antibiotics from the stroke unit where they worked.

'I cared'

Ms Wilmot, who was dismissed by her employers in 2020, said she had not been qualified to administer medications and had never given sleeping tablets to patients for an "easy life" or witnessed anyone else doing so.

Asked by her barrister Imran Shafi KC about her co-defendant, she said she "always thought that Cathy was really good at her job".

"She was always a really conscientious nurse, really good with her patients, nothing untoward whatsoever," she said.

"She has got a big personality.

"She exaggerates things a lot mainly for the effect, that's how she was.

"She would say things that would shock people."

She said she had "worked hard" in her own role, but admitted she did not enjoy the job all the time.

"I was never off sick and I looked after my patients to the best of my ability," she said.

"I cared about my patients. "

She added that she was "just under pressure".

"We were not really able to look after the patients to the best you could because of the circumstances, the understaffing," she said.

Ms Hudson, of Coriander Close, Blackpool, denies ill-treating four patients and stealing the medicine Mebeverine.

Ms Wilmot, of Bowland Crescent, Blackpool, denies encouraging Ms Hudson to sedate one of those patients.

Both defendants have also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to ill-treat another patient.

The trial continues.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]