Nurse at two care homes suspended
A registered nurse at two care homes in Ayr has been suspended by the industry regulator for six months.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council ( NMC) said John Dixon failed to show “remorse,” “further insight” or “any remediation of his previous failings” after his fitness to practice was brought into question.
Dixon was previously subject to a Conditions of Practice order following numerous allegations relating to his patient care at Rozelle Holm Farm Care Home and at Heathfield House.
The allegations centred around a number of patients at the two homes and date back to when Dixon was employed as a registered nurse at Rozelle Holm Farm between 2014 and 2017.
Other charges related to Dixon’s time as a staff nurse at Heathfield House in 2018.
Mr Dixon was cleared of several of the charges against him.
But others were found proved, including not calling a GP in relation to a resident following concerns by family members.
Others related to dispensing the wrong dose of Warfarin, a blood- thinning medicine to treat and prevent blood clots.
Dixon was also found to have signed a medicine administration record chart to say that vitamin B12 was given to a resident – when it had not.
Dixon also left medicine unattended in a resident’s room, administered an additional dose of medication to a resident when it had already been given, failed to administer prescribed insulin to a resident at the correct time and failed to record a patient’s blood sugar levels.
On one occasion a patient under Dixon’s care, at Heathfield House, was hospitalised with ketoacidosis, a symptom of not receiving insulin. Last year, Dixon avoided being struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council ( NMC) after they concluded that some of the charges put patients “at serious risk of harm”.
At the time he received a conditions of practice order.
However, at the latest hearing into Dixon’s conduct the NMC was told Dixon “had not engaged” with the current conditions of practice order.
The NMC said in their summing up: “Mr Dixon’s persistent lack of engagement has elevated the seriousness of this case.
“It is a requirement of any registered professional to engage with their regulator and with any fitness to practice proceedings.
“The panel determined that a suspension order is the appropriate sanction which would both protect the public and satisfy the wider public interest.”
Dixon’s suspension order will take effect from November 12.
Mr Dixon’s persistent lack of engagement has elevated the seriousness of this case