The High Court has confirmed a decision to erase Gloria Perez’s name from the Register of Nurses, after hearing her appeal against findings of professional misconduct.
In a judgment delivered on 29 November 2005, Mr Justice Diarmuid B. O’Donovan found beyond any doubt that Ms Perez’s conduct as a staff nurse at Craddock House Nursing Home and Care Centre fell seriously short of the standards expected of nurses. He concluded that her conduct and failure to follow the professional code amounted to professional misconduct. The court confirmed the sanction imposed by An Bord Altranais’s Fitness to Practice Committee under section 39(1) of the Nurses Act 1985.
The committee’s report followed an inquiry under section 38 of the Act. It had found misconduct relating to patient handover information, hygiene and aseptic techniques, giving medication to the wrong resident, and placing dirty swabs on a patient’s breakfast tray. The High Court heard evidence on those matters and considered whether the allegations were proved beyond reasonable doubt, whether they amounted to professional misconduct and what sanction should apply.
The judge accepted evidence from four nurses that Ms Perez frequently gave incomplete or imprecise information about patients and repeatedly failed to wash her hands or use and change gloves when dressing wounds, despite reminders. He also accepted that on 14 April 2003 she gave medication to the wrong resident and initially denied the mistake, and that she tried to persuade a colleague not to report it. The judge accepted evidence that dirty swabs had been placed on a patient’s breakfast tray.
Ms Perez admitted other record-keeping and hygiene failures before the committee, including failing to wash her hands between patients, inaccurate patient records and altering nursing notes. The judgment records that she confirmed those admissions in court. The judge found that the evidence overall showed she was not competent to practise safely and had not taken appropriate steps to maintain the competence required for nursing.
Ms Perez alleged that colleagues bullied and isolated her and made false accusations. The judge rejected those claims, as well as her contention that the employer’s reasons for dismissing her were unfounded. The judgment concerns the appeal against the professional regulator’s erasure decision; it does not describe a separate High Court order concerning her employment.