Nurse who said: I’m bored... who can we get rid of next?

Ward manager struck off for fake medical records

A NURSING manager at a failing NHS hospital was so keen to free up bed spaces that she falsified patients’ medical records, a disciplinary hearing was told.

Michelle McClintock, 50, even once allegedly told a colleague: ‘ I’m bored, who can we get rid of next?’

Another nurse said she once callously dismissed geriatric patients on her ward, saying: ‘They can just s*** in their own toilet at home.’

McClintock was accused of completing fake details on checklists to make it look as though elderly patients were ready to be sent home to care for themselves from the ward she ran at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent.

This saved her and her colleagues from having to keep treating them.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) disciplinary panel found she had disregarded the needs of vulnerable patients and ‘dishonestly pursued her own agenda to improve the trust’s discharge rate’.

McClintock was banned from nursing following the two-day hearing in central London earlier this month, which she did not attend. She has 28 days to appeal against the decision.

The qualified senior nurse, who earned up to £41,000 a year and was first registered in 1988, was also accused of using foul language ‘constantly’.

On one occasion she was heard saying ‘she’s bleeding like a stuffed pig’ about a woman being treated on the ward – in earshot of another patient.

McClintock also told a junior colleague that ‘no one will recognise your signature’ when she asked them to sign an unauthorised insulin prescription.

She abused her position for up to nine months and ‘ created an environment where patient discharge was a priority over patient care’, the NMC heard.

McClintock classified one frail woman with incontinence problems as a ‘Category C’ patient – meaning she was judged fit to go home and look after herself, instead of being properly classed as a higher priority case, the NMC panel heard.

A fellow nurse at the William Harvey Hospital told the panel she confronted McClintock over her assessment of the patient.

She added: ‘I said, “Michelle, she’s double incontinent” and went through it all. She said, “Oh, but if you put her down as ‘B’ she’ll be here even longer”.

‘But I said, “That lady has a right. It’s her safety and welfare and we’re supposed to be in a caring environment” – and she just walked off.’

Another nurse who gave evidence said that when he raised concerns about the accuracy of McClintock’s records he received a similar response. ‘I have been doing this for years. I know how to get patients out of the door,’ she allegedly said. Both witnesses said McClintock also made rude and vulgar remarks in front of patients.

On more than one occasion they said they overheard McClintock discussing her decision to send elderly patients home early, saying: ‘Get rid of them so I have a discharge.’

McClintock was sacked by East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust in July 2014 after colleagues blew the whistle on her actions, triggering an internal investigation.

This is just the latest scandal to hit the Trust, which was put into special measures in September 2014.

Health inspectors reported several ‘serious failures’, including staff shortages in A&E, con- cerns over children’s care and inadequate night-time cover at the William Harvey Hospital.

The NMC panel heard how over a period of at least nine months, the ward manager created an environment ‘where patient discharge was a priority over patient care’.

But it accepted that McClintock may have felt pressure from the NHS Trust to discharge patients more quickly.

Sally Ruthen, chair of the NMC’s conduct and competence committee, ordered McClintock to be struck off the Nursing Register.

She said: ‘The panel considered Miss McClintock’s actions were such significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse, and were so serious in nature that they were fundamentally incompatible of her remaining on the register.

‘The panel considered that Miss McClintock, in repeatedly dismissing the concerns of others, dishonestly pursued her own agenda to improve the Trust’s discharge rate.

‘The panel found that Miss McClintock compromised patient care needs by inaccurately completing documentation. Miss McClintock also used inappropriate language whilst on duty in clinical areas.’

Michelle McClintock was not available for comment last night at her home in South Ashford, Kent.

‘I know how to get patients out’