A CRITICAL care nurse ‘headbutted’ a seriously ill patient he was meant to be caring for, a court heard.

David Hadfield, 54, is alleged to have struck 72-year-old Thomas Bretherton in the centre of his forehead leaving him with three cuts while he was being treated at Royal Blackburn Hospital.

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Preston Crown Court heard the pensioner had been admitted after being diagnosed with acute pancreatits and was ‘confused’ and having trouble breathing when he was attacked.

Hadfield denies a charge of wounding with intent and an alternative charge of unlawful wounding.

Tim Storrie, prosecuting, said: “Thomas Bretherton was struck more than once causing wounds to open on his head after he was repeatedly headbutted.

“The prosecution say that the manner of the attack, coupled with the knowledge of how sick Mr Bretherton was, means that this attack manifested an intention to cause harm. Not just harm, but really serious harm.”

Mr Bretherton went into hospital in August last year and was required to wear a CPAP hood – a clear soft plastic helmet with a continuous supply of oxygen designed to help patients who have problems breathing.

The victim was also known to be very distressed and confused because of medication he was taking, the jury heard.

On August 6, Mr Storrie said Hadfield, who was assigned to look after Mr Bretherton, decided it was necessary to change his sheet.

The court heard from Lucy Wood, one of Hadfield’s colleagues, who has worked as a critical care nurse for 13 years. She told the court she and another nurse had been asked to help him with his task.

Miss Wood said: “David asked us to try and be quiet, not to talk to the patient much because he had been unsettled earlier in the day. So we tried not to disturb him much.”

The witness said that after changing the sheet, Mr Bretherton woke up. She added: “He was startled. He said words to the effect of ‘get away from me’. He did not know what was going on. He was kind of flailing his arms around.”

During the incident, Miss Wood’s finger was bent back and she had to let go of Mr Bretherton’s hand as she screamed out in pain, the court heard. Mr Bretherton also managed to pull a monitoring machine off his finger and broke it.

The jury heard how Hadfield decided it was necessary to administer the sedative Haloperidol to try to calm the patient down and as he tried to find his canula, their heads collided.

Miss Wood said: “David was close to the bedside trying to give the medication. The patient sat up and caught him.

“David said ‘come on then’ to the patient. It felt like he was inviting the patient to do that again, to hit him in the face. The patient was still agitated. David lunged forward.

“It was like they were both lunging forward at the same time, clashing heads again.

“It all happened quite quickly, but I was stunned that David retaliated against a patient who was obviously confused instead of trying to calm him down.”

The witness told jurors that after the third clash, Hadfield asked for somebody to get a doctor to see Mr Bretherton and was ‘concerned’ about how he was.

Simon Nichol, for the defendant, of Lower Carr Lane, Oldham, said Hadfield had become unbalanced because of the way he was trying to hold Mr Bretherton’s arm steady so that he could give the medication.

He told the court: “Each time the patient brought his head forward towards David, David was pulling his head down to avoid being hit again in the face.”

Miss Wood replied: “It did not look like he was avoiding the patient. It seemed like he was making a focused movement towards the centre of his head.”

Mr Bretherton died shortly after the alleged attack, although Mr Storrie stressed that his passing was not related at all to the incident.

The trial continues.