Witney nurse who fell asleep on night shifts suspended

Laura Ellison was spotted asleep three times in less than a week by a colleague at the nursing home

A nurse who fell asleep three times on night shifts days apart has been suspended for six months.

Laura Ellison worked at the Middletown Grange care home in Hailey, near Witney, Oxfordshire, in March 2018.

She was spotted by a colleague asleep and resting on paperwork during a shift on 12 March and then twice on a sofa four days later.

In suspending her, a panel said Ms Ellison should be given a chance to change her behaviour in the future.

On the first occasion, a colleague said she found Ms Ellison asleep at about 04:00 as she sought staff during an emergency. She woke Ms Ellison up and they returned to work.

'Issues in personal life'

On 16 March, the pair were working the night shift again when Ms Ellison was found "with her feet up on the sofa waking up" in the lounge at about 01:30.

At about 03:00 the colleague said she found her asleep again on the sofa and took a photo of her.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel said Ms Ellison had later told her employers that she had "issues in her personal life" and had been tired.

She was later given a final written warning at a disciplinary hearing.

Ms Ellison did not appear in front of the NMC panel and was not represented.

It concluded that although Ms Ellison had put residents at risk and had breached a "fundamental tenet" of nursing, she still "should be afforded the opportunity to demonstrate that she understands the severity of her actions to a future reviewing panel".