Lancashire nurse struck off for offering sticking plaster to woman with a head wound

Muhammad Saleem failed to understand the seriousness of the female Parkinson’s Disease sufferer’s plight at White Ash Brook home in Oswaldtwistle, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was told.

Not only did he fail to undertake all necessary observations but he also failed to make any official record of the fall.

And when he was later looking after a male patient at the Hyndburn home, who was complaining of feeling sick and nauseous, he failed to administer medication in a ‘timely manner’, a misconduct panel heard. Only when district nurses intervened did Saleem admit that he didn’t know what the medication, levomepromazine, was for.

They complained to their bosses and an investigation was undertaken by managers at the Mimosa Health-run facility, which saw him dismissed.

The NMC first considered Saleem’s case, which related to two incidents in February and April 2013, at a conduct and competence committee hearing in July 2015.

A three-strong panel ruled that while most members of the public may have found the nurse’s actions ‘deplorable’, there was no evidence of deep-seated attitude problems.

Colleagues were even said to have considered he was ‘attentive’ and his problems may stem from a lack of training by previous employers.

He was suspended for 12 months and a series of recommendations were drafted, to ensure his skills could be updated and he could reflect on his failings.

But the latest hearing was told Saleem had failed to engage with the nursing watchdog since his suspension last summer and his fitness to practice was still considered to be impaired.

Striking him off, panel chairman Edward Lucas, said: “We noted and were extremely concerned by the lack of evidence demonstrating that Mr Saleem had taken any steps to address the failings which had led to his suspension.”

His expulsion from the register will officially take effect when his original suspension elapses at the end of August.