NORTH LOUTH NURSE STRUCK OFF REGISTER
MARY ELLEN DONNELLY WAS NURSE IN NORTH FOR 36 YEARS BEFORE CARE HOME INCIDENT LED TO DISMISSAL
A North Louth nurse has been struck off after lying about how a resident at a care home for people with dementia in Newry was hurt when she fell in her room, the Argus can reveal.
Mary Ellen Donnelly, who is from the Cooley area and is aged in her late fifties, had been a nurse for 36 years at the time of the incident, admitted lying to management at Ashgrove Care Home in Newry and telling a junior colleague to do the same after the accident in April 2014.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing last week found her guilty of misconduct and issued a striking off order. The Argus understands that Ms Donnelly was only registered as a nurse in the North and not in the Republic.
The fitness to practise hearing was told that Ms Donnelly, who first registered as a nurse in 1978, was working a night shift at the care home on April 13 2014 when she went for a sleep break at about 2am.
While taking her break, a health care assistant was alerted by a loud cry. When she went to investigate, the health care assistant found the woman lying face down on the floor, so she alerted Ms Donnelly and asked for assistance because she was not allowed to touch the lady.
Ms Donnelly and her colleague helped the woman off the floor and put her into her armchair for safety.
They both noticed a bruise beginning to appear on her arm, but neither of them had witnessed the accident so they had no idea how it had happened.
The NMC panel said Ms Donnelly told the health care assistant ‘ not to tell the truth about what had happened and told her to write a false statement regarding the incident, stating that the patient had fallen out of bed and bumped into a locker during the fall, which caused the bruising’.
Ms Donnelly then recorded false information about the incident and the injury into the woman’s medical notes.
The NMC continued: ‘Further, the registrant did not hand over the true circumstances of the incident to the morning staff at the start of their shift. The patient’s next of kin were not informed of the fall’.
Ms Donnelly’s lies were uncovered the following night when the colleague who originally alerted her to the accident told senior staff what had happened.
She claimed Ms Donnelly ‘pressured her into making a false statement’.
Management at the care home launched an investigation into the allegations and Ms Donnelly was subsequently sacked after she admitted lying about what had happened.
She appealed the decision to dismiss her, but this was upheld by the home and she was referred to the NMC in 2015 by the manager of the centre.
The fitness to practise panel was told Ms Donnelly, who did not appear at the hearing, had applied for voluntary removal from the NMC register on March 10 this year. In her application, she said that she was no longer working as a nurse and had no intention to return to the profession due to ill health.
She also provided a letter from her doctor which said she has experienced problems with her health following the incident.
The application was refused, and Ms Donnelly admitted the five charges that she was facing.
Following the fitness to practice hearing in Belfast, the NMC panel said: ‘Ms Donnelly’s actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse’ and were ‘fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register’.
‘ The registrant’s position at the home meant that she was dealing with vulnerable patients who required the maximum degree of professional conduct. Her behaviour in failing to disclose and record the patient’s fall put the patient at unwarranted risk of harm.
‘Her failure to recognise the serious nature of the incident at the time, and her failure to demonstrate any insight, remorse or remediation since that time, suggests a risk of repetition of such behaviour.
‘During the home’s investigation, the registrant submitted a false statement providing a fabricated account of the incident.
‘She then also asked a junior colleague to provide a false account. Whilst she did eventually admit to fabricating the circumstances, this was only after her colleague had whistle-blown. It is believed that the registrant would not have come forward had this not been done’.