Nurse suspended for ‘pulling nursing home resident out of chair’

A “frustrated” nurse who shouted at a care home resident while “dragging” him from a chair has been given a six-month suspension. Violet Horsford’s behavior, which was allegedly sparked by residents swapping seats, was found to be “inappropriate and completely unacceptable”.

The incident occurred during the nurse’s night shift at Jubilee Court in Coseley on October 27, 2018. A hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Fitness to Practice Committee was told that Resident A suffers from Huntington’s disease – a disease that affects parts of the brain over time had prevented her from working properly – and had found Resident B sitting in her “assigned” chair, which left her “upset”.

Resident B moved to another seat at Resident C’s request. However, Ms Horsford was reportedly “upset” by the seat change and shouted at Resident A to move. Resident A claimed she was grabbed by her wrists and “dragged” to a sofa and “pushed” onto it, which Resident C confirmed.

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Ms Horsford – who was not present at last month’s hearing – had previously said she grabbed Resident A by the wrists “partly to stabilize her” and “guided” her to the sofa; However, the committee accepted the residents’ representation. It said Ms Horsford should have known that Resident A had a chair “fixation” due to her condition and that this was included in her seat care plan at the time.

The panel said that because Resident A had no mobility problems, it was “unnecessary” for Ms Horsford to handle her while she was being lifted out of the chair – and even if assistance had been required, she had used “inappropriate methods that did not.” were respected”. “Preserving the dignity” of the resident. It said she “presented a risk of harm and caused actual harm in the form of emotional and psychological distress,” which amounted to misconduct.

Resident C said the nurse appeared to be “absolutely angry” at Resident A as she shouted: “Get up from the chair” and asked her: “What the hell are you doing?” – claims deemed proven by the panel became . The panel believed the nurse said these things “out of frustration,” but said that while it was “unprofessional,” it did not constitute misconduct.

Another allegation found to be true by the panel was that Ms Horsford did not record the incident in an incident report. A report from the hearing said she “dismissed it as unnecessary and only recorded the incident in the daily records/care notes for Resident A and the handover notes”. The panel considered accurate record keeping to be “one of the cornerstones of the nursing profession” and found it amounted to misconduct.

While the panel said it was an “isolated case of misconduct” and that there was no evidence of “harmful, deep-rooted personality or attitude problems” or “evidence of a recurrence of behavior since the incident”, it did feel that it did that she had violated the “damages”. basic standards of professional conduct and behavior to be adhered to by a registered nurse. The panel gave Ms Horsford a suspension order for a period of six months, which would give her “an opportunity to demonstrate evidence of sufficient insight into her misconduct and to ensure that her fitness to practice is no longer impaired”.

The panel said a review of the order would take place before the end of the suspension period, which could result in it being revoked, confirmed or replaced by another order. Ms Horford, who had failed to fully commit to these proceedings, had 28 days to appeal the sentence before the suspended sentence would come into effect.

Background information in the panel’s decision document said Ms Horsford had alleged that Resident A had hit her during the course of the incident and had also used inappropriate language towards her. It said the home, operated by Select Healthcare Group, carried out an initial investigation on November 1, 2018, which included an information interview with Ms Horsford. Meetings with other employees took place in late October and early November of the same year.

The incident involving Resident A was also reported to the police, but the case was closed as no further action was taken due to insufficient evidence. Ms Horsford resigned from the home on November 20, 2018. A disciplinary hearing was held on 29 November 2018, which found that she would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had she not resigned – a decision which she appealed, but which was upheld on 11 January. 2019. BirminghamLive has attempted to contact the home for comment.