Nurse struck off for abusing Wirral care home patient

The NMC said Susan Hughes (not pictured) showed a "complete disregard" to nursing code

A nurse who abused a patient and failed to alert medics when her health deteriorated has been struck off.

Susan Hughes dragged the patient, pushed away her walking frame and shouted obscenities at them at a care home in Wirral in December 2019.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said she also shouted at the victim, a wheelchair user, to "stand up".

The NMC found Ms Hughes showed a "complete disregard" to nursing code and was "bullying in nature".

In a report, one witness described seeing Ms Hughes, a nurse at Charlotte House Care Home in Bebington, pulling the patient's walking frame to "get her to walk faster as she wanted her to go to her room".

The nurse also called the victim "stupid and childish" and yelled abusive language at her.

A panel found that while on duty, Ms Hughes slept, watched Netflix and did not respond to a call bell.

'Risk to patient safety'

Ms Hughes also failed to take any action when the victim's health deteriorated, which included alerting a doctor and taking her pulse or temperature.

The NMC panel said the charges amounted to misconduct and were serious, "falling below what would been expected of a reasonable and competent nurse".

Ms Hughes' actions "showed a complete disregard to several parts of the code… and could be considered bullying in nature", the report continued.

The NMC said she demonstrated "almost no insight into her misconduct" and was a "risk to patient and public safety if allowed to practise unrestricted".

Ms Hughes was handed an interim suspension order until she is struck off the register.

The BBC has approached the care home for comment.