A NURSE who worked at a residential home in Rhyl has been struck off for serious misconduct which put her patients at risk of “serious harm".

Erdora Margareta Cuc was handed an interim suspension order after transgressions during her time at Akari Care between February 2019 and May 2020.

The company runs two nursing homes in Rhyl - Canterbury House on Dyserth Road and Preswylfa Nursing Home on Russell Road – it is not known which home Ms Cuc worked at.

Ms Cuc had 28 days to appeal the decision, which was not done – therefore, the interim suspension order was upgraded to a striking-off order.

At a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing into Ms Cuc’s conduct on January 22 and 23, eight charges were levelled against the nurse.

The charges are as follows:

  1. Administered insulin to Resident A at 09:10 without a colleague being present to conduct a second check.
  2. Recorded in Resident A’s MAR chart and/or controlled drugs book and/or the insulin regime sheet a copy of Colleague A’s signature to indicate she had been the second checker for the administration of the insulin when she had not been present.
  3. Your conduct at charge 2 was dishonest in that you knew Colleague A had not been the second checker for your 09.10 administration of insulin to Resident A and you intended to mislead any subsequent reader of Resident A’s MAR chart and/or controlled drugs book and/or the insulin regime sheet that she had been.
  4. Failed to administer a Gabapentin 100mg capsule to Resident A at 09.00, as prescribed.
  5. Inaccurately recorded on Resident A’s MAR chart and/or controlled drugs book that Gabapentin 100mg had been administered at 09:00.
  6. Recorded in Resident A’s MAR chart and/or controlled drugs book a copy of Colleague A’s signature to indicate she had been the second checker for the administration of the Gabentin 100mg capsule at 09:00 when she had not been present.
  7. Your conduct at charge 5 and 6 was dishonest in that you knew you had not administered Gabapentin 100mg to Resident A at 09.00 and you intended to mislead any subsequent reader of Resident A’s MAR chart that you had done so and that said administration had been second checked by Colleague A.
  8. Inappropriately disposed of the Gabepentin 100mg capsule that should have been administered at 9:00 to Resident A by putting it in a bin instead of using the Doom kit.’

The hearing heard that Ms Cuc had falsified medical sheets and charts, had failed to administer drugs, had disposed of drugs inappropriately and had administered drugs without a second checker.

The employer noted that Ms Cuc had “admitted the allegations against her and also that she had lied during the initial interview”.

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She had resigned with immediate effect in May 2020, with an investigation undertaken prior to the disciplinary hearing.

The panel determined that the aggravating features in this case, were as follows:

  • Ms Cuc put a colleague at risk of harm by abusing her position of trust and falsifying records, this was a breach of the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession, in that Ms Cuc did not act with honesty and integrity
  • Ms Cuc placed patients at risks of suffering harm
  • Ms Cuc had an initial lack of insight into her failing

The panel further took into consideration the NMC’s Statement of Case in relation to the misconduct in Ms Cuc’s case, which stated: “We consider the misconduct serious. Honesty and integrity are the cornerstones of the nursing profession and the falsification of patient records by signing off her colleague’s signature as a second checker is a significant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse.

“Her conduct could have resulted in harm to the Resident. Mrs Cuc deliberately disregarded the safeguards put in place to protect patients and colleagues and her own training.

“Furthermore, Mrs Cuc’s actions impacted negatively upon her colleagues by putting them in a position where they were questioned.

“A registrant failing to give a resident medication and then incorrectly recording that they had, puts patients at serious risk of harm.

“This goes against basic nursing principles and is a failure to put patient needs first and minimizing the risk to them.

“Her actions also reflects badly on the nursing home and the nursing profession.

“Mrs Cuc’s behaviour raises grave concerns about her integrity as a registered professional.

“Therefore, restrictive action may be necessary to protect the public and maintain public confidence in the profession.”