Convicted care home nurse is struck off
MENTAL HEALTH NURSE SUBJECTED RESIDENTS TO HORRIFIC ABUSE
A mental health nurse who subjected vulnerable residents at a Gateshead care home to horrific abuse has been banned from the profession for life.
Alastair Quinn was jailed for two years in January after a jury convicted him of eight counts of mistreating residents at Covent House, Birtley.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the “physical and oral” abuse of his victims included telling one he wished he would “hurry up and die,” and forcing another to the ground when he refused to take his medication.
Now a disciplinary panel has ruled that he should be struck off after finding his “conduct is fundamentally incompatible with what is expected of a nurse”.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) also said they were concerned about Quinn’s “avoidance of detection and manipulative behaviour towards the victims’ relatives”.
The panel found the fact that he has still not accepted the facts of the charges or shown any remorse meant his actions would “not be easily remediable”.
Quinn was working in a senior position at Covent House Care Home when he mistreated and abused a number of frail residents.
The cruel 58-year-old, of Waldridge Road, Chester-le-Street, was convicted of eight offences of ill-treatment of persons lacking capacity in December last year, and jailed a month later.
The NMC report said the home specialised in care for the elderly, specifically residents suffering from dementia and/ or a lack of capacity.
It said: “Mr Quinn was found to have committed physical and oral abuse on his victims.
“He was found to have committed various acts using force when victims were confused or reluctant to comply.
“The court found that Mr Quinn’s victims had common characteristics such as cognitive impairment, lacking capacity to respond or react, or an inability to communicate, protest or report the abuse.”
“The panel noted that the multiple incidents of repeated abuse to vulnerable patients occurred over a number of years, and concluded that due to Mr Quinn’s lack of insight or remorse, there would be no circumstance in the future where the public would feel confident in Mr Quinn working as a nurse again.”
Newcastle Crown Court heard in January that Quinn had a dark side and a fiery temper which he took out on those he was supposed to be looking after.
As well as handling patients roughly, witnesses said he would force feed them medication, he picked one woman up in a bear hug and frog-marched her, threw another woman to the floor when she spat her tablets out, frog-marched other residents back to their rooms, picked another resident up by his armpits and carried him at pace and used abusive terms.